MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 02306cam a22003254a 4500
001 2005058179
003 DLC
005 20070511143752.0
008 051207s2006 nyu b 001 0beng
010 $a 2005058179
020 $a1594200947
020 $a9781594200946
035 $a(OCoLC)ocm62593825
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dBAKER$dC#P$dVP@$dBUR$dOMB$dSYB$dDLC
042 $apcc
043 $an-us---
050 00 $aHV875.55$b.F465 2006
082 00 $a362.82/98$222
100 1 $aFessler, Ann.
245 14 $aThe girls who went away :$bthe hidden history of women who surrendered children for adoption in the decades before Roe v. Wade /$cAnn Fessler.
260 $aNew York :$bPenguin Press,$c2006.
300 $a354 p. ;$c25 cm.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
505 00 $tMy own story as an adoptee --$tBreaking the silence --$tGood girls v. bad girls --$tDiscovery and shame --$tThe family's fears --$tGoing away --$tBirth and surrender --$tThe aftermath --$tSearch and reunion --$tTalking and listening --$tEvery mother but my own.
520 $aThis book brings to light the lives of 1.5 million single American women in the years following World War II who, under enormous social and family pressure, were coerced to give up their newborn children. It tells not of wild and carefree sexual liberation, but rather of a devastating double standard that has had punishing long-term effects on these women and on the children they gave up. Single pregnant women were shunned by family and friends, evicted from schools, sent away to maternity homes to have their children alone, and often treated with cold contempt by doctors, nurses, and clergy. The majority of the women interviewed by Fessler, herself an adoptee, have never spoken of their experiences, and most have been haunted by grief and shame their entire adult lives.--From publisher description.
650 0 $aBirthmothers$zUnited States.
650 0 $aAdoption$zUnited States$xPsychological aspects.
856 41 $3Table of contents only$uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/fy0612/2005058179.html
856 42 $3Contributor biographical information$uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0721/2005058179-b.html
856 42 $3Publisher description$uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0721/2005058179-d.html