Inventing the Feeble Mind

James W. Trent Jr. is author of Inventing the Feeble Mind: A History of Mental Retardation in the United States (1994) that won the 1995 Hervey B. Wilbur Award of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. He coedited Mental Retardation in America: An Historical Reader (2004), and authored The Manliest Man: Samuel G. Howe and the Contours of 19th Century American Reform (2012).

• List of IllustrationsList of TablesAcknowledgements IntroductionChapter One Idiots in AmericaChapter Two Edward Seguin and the Irony of Physiological EducationChapter Three The Burden of the FeeblemindedChapter Four Living and Working in the Institution, 1890-1920Chapter Five The Menace of the FeeblemindedChapter Six Sterilization, Parole, and RoutinizationChapter Seven Remaking of Mental Retardation: Of Wars, Angels, Parents, and PoliticiansChapter Eight Intellectual Disability and the Dilemma of DoubtEpilogue On Suffering Fools Gladly NotesReferencesIndex

Trents thorough examination of the history of intellectual disability in the United States has become a key text for anyone interested in this topic. Though not a historian, Trent has completed thorough archival research and interviewed contemporary witnesses to create a comprehensive, though accessible, introduction to a history that shines a light on the best and worst of the human condition.