A perfect turmoil : Walter E. Fernald and the struggle to care for America's disabled / Alex Green.
| Author/creator | Green, Alex author. |
| Other author | New York State Council on the Arts, funder. |
| Format | Book |
| Edition | First edition. |
| Publication | New York : Bellevue Literary Press, 2025 |
| Copyright Date | ©2025 |
| Description | 366 pages : illustrations, photographs ; 23 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Author's note -- Introduction -- Part I: Rise (1859-1905) -- The Fernalds of Kittery -- A midwestern madhouse -- A difference of degree -- The master spirit -- Special classes -- The colony plan -- Defective delinquents -- Part II: Fall (1906-1916) -- Criminal instincts -- Hall's children -- Messiah Montessori -- Binet tests and black charts -- So radical an operation -- Part III: Reckoning (1917-1924) -- Mere intelligence testers -- After care -- The legend of the feeble-minded -- Everyday eugenicists -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index. |
| Abstract | "From the moment he became superintendent of the nation's oldest public school for intellectually and developmentally disabled children in 1887 until his death in 1924, Dr. Walter E. Fernald led a wholesale transformation of our understanding of disabilities in ways that continue to influence our views today. How did the man who designed the first special education class in America, shaped the laws of entire nations, and developed innovative medical treatments for the disabled slip from idealism into the throes of eugenics before emerging as an opponent of mass institutionalization? Based on a decade of research, A Perfect Turmoil is the story of a doctor, educator, and policymaker who was unafraid to reverse course when convinced by the evidence, even if it meant going up against some of the most powerful forces of his time. In this landmark work, Alex Green has drawn upon extensive, unexamined archives to unearth the hidden story of one of America's largely forgotten, but most complex, conflicted, and significant figures."-- Publisher's description. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 313-350) and index. |
| Funding information | "This publication is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature" -- title page verso. |
| Genre/form | Biographies. |
| Genre/form | Biographies. |
| ISBN | 9781954276420 (paperback ; acid-free paper) |
| ISBN | 1954276427 (paperback ; acid-free paper) |
| ISBN | (eBook) |