Introduction
ONE
The spirit chooses the body it will occupy:Indigenous North
America, Pre-1492
TWO
The poor, vicious, and infirm:Colonial Communities, 1492–1700
THREE
The miserable wretches were then thrown into the sea:The Late
Colonial Era, 1700–1776
FOUR
The deviant and the dependent:Creating Citizens, 1776–1865
FIVE
I am disabled, and must go atsomething else besides hard labor: The
Institutionalization of Disability, 1865–1890
SIX
Three generations of imbeciles are enough:The Progressive Era,
1890–1927
SEVEN
We don’t want tin cups:Laying the Groundwork, 1927–1968
EIGHT
I guess I’m an activist. I think it’s just
caring:Rights and Rights Denied, 1968–
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
The author of 3 books, including two on Helen Keller and one on Anne Sullivan Macy, Kim E. Nielsen is professor of disability studies at the University of Toledo and was founding president of the Disability History Association.
“At last: a truly inclusive history. This groundbreaking book
braids together the history every American knows with the history
most Americans have never even imagined—and our society has long
forgotten. Fascinating, enlightening, absorbing, well-researched,
and concise, A Disability History of the United States isn’t
just the book I wish I’d read in school. It’s the book I’d
encourage every American to read.”
—Rachel Simon, author of The Story of Beautiful Girl and Riding The
Bus With My Sister
“This brave book is full of surprises; a page-turner that tells a
story I had not known. In every chapter there is at least one
episode that made me shiver. Read it for Kim Nielsen’s fresh
interpretations, read it for her wisdom. U.S. history will not look
the same.”
—Linda K. Kerber, author of No Constitutional Right to Be
Ladies
“Path-breaking, meticulously researched, and drawing on a
stunning array of sources, A Disability History of the United
States fundamentally changes our understanding of the
nation’s past. I was amazed by Kim Nielsen’s ability to convey a
richly peopled history while still detailing a national
experience. Disability, Nielsen reminds us, is beautifully
and inextricably entangled with all the other forces that shape
identities and communities. This remarkable ‘peoples’ story’
stretches the chronological, analytical, and thematic borders of
U.S. and disability history. Everyone interested in U.S. and
disability histories will benefit from reading this book.”
—Susan Burch, author of Signs of Resistance
“A wonderful, beautifully written, remarkable achievement that will
certainly become a classic within the field and should become
standard reading.”
—Michael A. Rembis, Director, Center for Disability Studies,
University at Buffalo
“By displacing the able-bodied, self-subsisting individual citizen
as the basic unit (and implied beneficiary) of the American
experience, she compels the reader to reconsider how we understand
personal dignity, public life, and the common good.”
—Inside Higher Ed.
"A scholarly yet stirring narrative of our nation’s uneasy
relations—part pity and empathy, part discrimination and social
stigmatization—with disabled people.”
—Booklist
“Nielsen excavates the long-buried history of physical difference
in America and shows how disability has been a significant factor
in the formation of democratic values…The range of this book is
marvelous.”
—The Wilson Quarterly
“I think you’ll like this book, too, especially if you’re an
advocate, a student of history, or just looking for a different
angle on American society. For you, A Disability History of the
United States is a book you can’t afford to miss.”
—The Price County Daily
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