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The Baby Thief: The Untold Story of Georgia Tann, the Baby Seller Who Corrupted Adoption Hardcover – April 12, 2007
- Print length320 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherDa Capo Press
- Publication dateApril 12, 2007
- Dimensions7 x 0.25 x 10 inches
- ISBN-100786719443
- ISBN-13978-0786719440
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- By the 1950s, 90 percent of white maternity home residents surrendered their children for adoption.Highlighted by 82 Kindle readers
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Product details
- Publisher : Da Capo Press (April 12, 2007)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0786719443
- ISBN-13 : 978-0786719440
- Item Weight : 1.2 pounds
- Dimensions : 7 x 0.25 x 10 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,462,737 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #517 in Southern U.S. Biographies
- #4,154 in Crime & Criminal Biographies
- Customer Reviews:
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Customers find the content informative, historical, and fascinating. They also disagree on the writing style, with some finding it well-written and easy to read, while others say it's difficult to read and complete.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book very informative, a great historical read, and say the author did a wonderful job documenting the story of Georgia Tann. They also say the book fills in some blanks in history and helps them understand some of the challenges.
"This book contains a lot of good information. Thank you for lending your voice to those still seeking their families lost. I recommend this book...." Read more
"...This book was really in-depth and flowed easily. It will keep you up at night." Read more
"...Kudos to this writer for bringing this out. Very informative." Read more
"...This woman was warped,abusive, deceitful, certainly a sociopath if not a psychopath, but as a side-effect of her megalomania adoption became..." Read more
Customers find the storyline fascinating, informative, and disturbing. They also describe the book as an important chapter of social history and an excellent recollection of a horrible time in our so-called Democratic Society.
"What a fascinating story...." Read more
"Very interesting story however I feel it could be better written, was difficult to read...." Read more
"Very interesting account of a horrible thing that happened in the 40s and 50s in middle America - something that has affected and actually improved..." Read more
"...to say, though, that Barbara did, and the result is a fascinating but sickening account of how adoption got to where it is today...." Read more
Customers are mixed about the writing style. Some find it very well written and interesting, while others say it's difficult to read, confusing, and hard to follow. They also mention that the typos and misspellings in the Kindle edition are insulting.
"...The writing was generally clear and informative." Read more
"...interesting story however I feel it could be better written, was difficult to read...." Read more
"Well written if a little long winded at times. I never knew this ugly side of adoption and it's frightening...." Read more
"...The book was a bit confusing to follow as it jumped around a bit and I pretty much skipped through the last section, as it was mostly about general..." Read more
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I thought it was odd, uncomfortable actually when the author abruptly started telling her story, not of being adopted but because she had adopted a baby and doing this research brought up feelings about her experience adopting. We went from a gripping investigative piece to a first-person journal entry and then back to the investigation. If I were her editor, I would have left that in the Foreward or Preface. It distracted from the many more cases of adopted kids and broken families she could have spent her time on. The writing was generally clear and informative.
I wrote it in my heading but they may make me change it... this b_____ is TRULY FORTUNATE she was in Hell by the time I was born & had my children! I probably would've made it my MISSION IN LIFE to destroy her!!! What a heinous human - well, I won't say she was a human being - no person with FEELINGS could ever do that, much less make a living from it!!
I mean, IF she just wanted to help girls who - got in trouble & she charged the adoptive parents... THAT IS WHAT humans do!! She could've done that but to TAKE; I don't care if they were poor - poor people have more LOVE!!!! (& less fat!!) She was a ... UGH ... vile person!!
I gave it 5 stars b/c people should KNOW about this! Here we are, these days with so MANY DIFFERENT MEDICAL CONDITIONS, that oddly they didn't have 100 years ago. Well, no one knew (or did anything about it) so .... rather than blame vaccines that have proven to keep our society healthier; why aren't we all doing our DNA to see WHO we're related to & make sure we don't marry our cousins because of this greedy wench!!!! It wouldn't be this generation, it would've been our grandparents in the 30 & 40's! (Well, MY grandparents were born in the 30's ... FAR AWAY FROM this rag bag, (up north) Thank you Lord! I'm blessed they're still with me to see MY children grow! Well my Grandma has had Alzheimer's for a few years now. I don't like to talk about it b/c I lost my paternal grandfather to Alzheimer's in early 2016)
It's an almost unbelievable story, but there are many people who - obviously were affected by her deeds, there are, as I said above - probably hundreds of thousands more who have NO IDEA their lives were affected by her! IF parents "planned" to tell their kids one day but they both passed away in a tragic accident when they were little - those kids STILL still think those people were their biological parents!! People truly need to realize what just ONE lie can do.
Read when you're not in a bad mood or angry because this story & this ... woman will make you angry...And it'll make you hug your kids!!
She stole children from loving homes, stole them from the maternity wards of hospitals. She starved and abused them verbally, physically and sexually, and she had her hand on most of the politicians who could have hurt her.
The book was fascinating.
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Gracias a la autora por su enorme esfuerzo.