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Overview
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist tells the amazing story of how a group of imprisoned boys won their freedom, found justice, and survived one of the darkest and least-known episodes of American history.
In the early twentieth century, United States health officials used IQ tests to single out "feebleminded" children and force them into institutions where they were denied education, sterilized, drugged, and abused. Under programs that ran into the 1970s, more than 250,000 children were separated from their families, although many of them were merely unwanted orphans, truants, or delinquents.
The State Boys Rebellion conveys the shocking truth about America's eugenic era through the experiences of a group of boys held at the Fernald State School in Massachusetts starting in the late 1940s. In the tradition of Erin Brockovich, it recounts the boys' dramatic struggle to demand their rights and secure their freedom. It also covers their horrifying discovery many years later that they had been fed radioactive oatmeal in Cold War experiments — and the subsequent legal battle that ultimately won them a multimillion-dollar settlement.
Meticulously researched through school archives, previously sealed papers, and interviews with the surviving State Boys, this deft exposé is a powerful reminder of the terrifying consequences of unchecked power as well as an inspiring testament to the strength of the human spirit.
Synopsis
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist tells the amazing story of how a group of imprisoned boys won their freedom, found justice, and survived one of the darkest and least-known episodes of American history.
In the early twentieth century, United States health officials used IQ tests to single out "feebleminded" children and force them into institutions where they were denied education, sterilized, drugged, and abused. Under programs that ran into the 1970s, more than 250,000 children were separated from their families, although many of them were merely unwanted orphans, truants, or delinquents.
The State Boys Rebellion conveys the shocking truth about America's eugenic era through the experiences of a group of boys held at the Fernald State School in Massachusetts starting in the late 1940s. In the tradition of Erin Brockovich, it recounts the boys' dramatic struggle to demand their rights and secure their freedom. It also covers their horrifying discovery many years later that they had been fed radioactive oatmeal in Cold War experiments — and the subsequent legal battle that ultimately won them a multimillion-dollar settlement.
Meticulously researched through school archives, previously sealed papers, and interviews with the surviving State Boys, this deft exposé is a powerful reminder of the terrifying consequences of unchecked power as well as an inspiring testament to the strength of the human spirit.
The Washington Post - E. Anthony Rotundo
D'Antonio's book is both engaging and valuable. His State Boys are fascinating people who maintained their humanity and pride against the daily assaults of institutional life. He renders them as vivid individuals, and the warmth of his plainspoken prose makes their stories irresistible.
Editorials
Anthony Walton
D'Antonio's narrative strikes an admirable balance between the larger social context and scientific theories -- ''most troubling . . . is that it all began with a grand desire to do good'' -- and the children's lived experience … The rebellion of the state boys was less an isolated act -- though D'Antonio narrates the residents' climactic takeover of one building and the fateful consequences for those involved -- than a way of being. Despite the inhumane conditions in which they lived, the state boys, through countless small acts of self-assertion, and through the enduring friendships they formed with one another, refused to accept the state's categorization of them as anything less than fully human.— The New York Times
E. Anthony Rotundo
D'Antonio's book is both engaging and valuable. His State Boys are fascinating people who maintained their humanity and pride against the daily assaults of institutional life. He renders them as vivid individuals, and the warmth of his plainspoken prose makes their stories irresistible.— The Washington Post