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Frances Finnegan traces the history of the Magdalen Asylums in Ireland, homes founded in the 19th century for the detention of prostitutes undergoing reform, but which later received unwed mothers, wayward girls and the mentally retarded, all of them put to work as forced labour in church-run laundries.
The convents, asylums, and laundries that once comprised the Magdalene institutions are the subject of this work. Though originally half-way homes for prostitutes in the Middle Ages, these homes often became forced-labor institutions, particularly in Ireland. Examining the laundries within the context of a growing world capitalist economy, the work argues that the process of colonization, and of defining a national image, determined the nature and longevity of the Magdalene Laundries. This process developed differently in Ireland, where the last laundry closed in 1996. The book focuses on the devolution of the significance of Mary Magdalene as a metaphor for the organization: from an affluent, strong supporter of Jesus to a simple, fallen woman.
Two beloved classics from USA TODAY bestselling author Marie Ferrarella Mother in Training Lawyer Jack Lever is used to order—not the disorder of two small children. Suddenly left without a babysitter, the single dad can't believe his fortune when Zooey Finnegan agrees to become his children's nanny. Zooey is happy to take care of Jack's kids, and she soon grows to love them as if they are her own. And it doesn't take them long to fall in love with Zooey, either. But their father could be a different story.... A Billionaire and a Baby From the moment the very pregnant—and beautiful— Sherry Campbell corners him in the elevator, corporate raider Sin-Jin Adair feels the reporter's hold on him. She wants the secrets of his past, but all he wants is his privacy. After heroically delivering Sherry's baby, Sin-Jin finds himself yearning to become a part of her little family. But is he good enough for them...or will Sherry turn him away?
First published in 1985, this book explores the social history of the Irish in Britain across a variety of cities, including Bristol, York, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stockport. With contributions from foremost scholars in the field, it provides a thorough critical study of Irish immigration, in its social, political, cultural and religious dimensions. This book will be of interested to students of Victorian history, Irish history and the history of minorities.
Tracing the history of four English case studies, this book explores how, from outward appearance to interior furnishings, the material worlds of reform institutions for ‘fallen’ women reflected their moral purpose and shaped the lived experience of their inmates. Variously known as asylums, refuges, magdalens, penitentiaries, Houses or Homes of Mercy, the goal of such institutions was the moral ‘rehabilitation’ of unmarried but sexually experienced ‘fallen’ women. Largely from the working-classes, such women – some of whom had been sex workers – were represented in contradictory terms. Morally tainted and a potential threat to respectable family life, they were also worthy o...
Spongberg (women's history, Macqurie U., Australia) explores how the perceived source of disease contamination contracted from all women's bodies to those just of fallen women between the late 18th and 20th centuries. Drawing on modern AIDS-related cultural studies, she discusses such aspects as regulation, child prostitution, male sexuality and female degeneration, and the continuing persistence of feminine pathology in biomedical discourse. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
This study of Catholicism articulates how theological teachings trickle down from the Vatican and influence decisions about food, marriage, sex, community celebrations, and medical care.
The President of Ireland since 2011, when he was elected by a final tally of almost 57% of the votes, Michael D. Higgins has used his time in office to setout a vision of what he calls 'an ethical Republic'. In a series of remarkable and urgent speeches, which are anything but the bland commentaries of a ceremonial head of state, Michael D. Higgins has urged his fellow citizens to consider what makes the good life. He has asked how human rights, an active and empowered citizenry, women's equality and the right to health and a life free of corrosive anxiety might be achieved. He has highlighted the plight of refugees. And he has criticised the ways in which work is becoming dehumanised.
In the new mega-anthology from best-selling editor Russ Kick, more than fifty writers, reporters, and researchers invade the inner sanctum for an unrestrained look at the wild and wooly world of organized belief. Richard Dawkins shows us the strange, scary properties of religion; Neil Gaiman turns a biblical atrocity story into a comic (that almost sent a publisher to prison); Erik Davis looks at what happens when religion and California collide; Mike Dash eyes stigmatics; Douglas Rushkoff exposes the trouble with Judaism; Paul Krassner reveals his “Confessions of an Atheist”; and best-selling lexicographer Jonathon Green interprets the language of religious prejudice. Among the dozens o...