What Else Could I Do?: Single Mothers and Infanticide, Ireland 1900-1950 (New Directions in Irish History) - Softcover

Cliona Rattigan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0716531402 ISBN 13: 9780716531401

Publisher: Irish Academic Press Ltd, 2011

Synopsis

This powerful book explores the history of single mothers and infanticide in Ireland over a fifty-year period. Based primarily on underused archival material, Rattigan provides a detailed analysis of the diverse experiences of unmarried mothers who faced criminal charges because they were suspected of having committed infanticide. Although statistics relating to female perpetrators of serious forms of crime are interrogated, the history of single women who killed their illegitimate infants cannot be understood through official numbers alone. The author undertakes a detailed case-bycase analysis of the records of over three hundred infanticide cases tried in Ireland, both North and South, during the first half of the twentieth century. This timely study will make an important contribution to historical scholarship and adds considerably to existing knowledge of female criminal behaviour in Ireland during the first half of the twentieth century. It is also a major contribution to historical understanding of gender relations, class, sexuality and family life.

About this title

About the Author

Dr Cliona Rattigan was a Teaching Fellow in Modern Irish History at the University of Warwick, and is currently a teacher of History and English at L Ermitage International School of France.

Edition details

• Publisher: Irish Academic Press Ltd
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0716531402
• ISBN 13: 9780716531401
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272