| Author |
Earle, Alice Morse, 1851-1911 |
| Title |
Curious Punishments of Bygone Days
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| Note |
Reading ease score: 60.2 (8th & 9th grade). Neither easy nor difficult to read.
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| Credits |
Produced by Mark C. Orton and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
|
| Summary |
"Curious Punishments of Bygone Days" by Alice Morse Earle is a historical account written in the late 19th century. The book explores various punishments used in earlier societies, focusing particularly on colonial America. It delves into the mechanisms of punishment, such as stocks, pillories, and more grotesque instruments like the ducking stool, reflecting societal attitudes towards crime, punishment, and public humiliation. The opening of the book presents a foreword where Earle outlines her motivations for writing, suggesting that while the topic is not pleasant, it bears a curiosity that connects the past to the present. Earle emphasizes the public nature of punishments in historical context, highlighting how they served to humiliate offenders as a deterrent. The discussion begins with the bilboes, a form of restraint for public shaming used against various offenders in colonial America, illustrating a society where personal honor and public perception were deeply intertwined, often resulting in severe and humiliating punishments for what might be considered minor offenses by today's standards. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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| Language |
English |
| LoC Class |
HV: Social sciences: Social pathology, Social and Public Welfare
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| Subject |
Punishment -- United States -- History -- 17th century
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| Subject |
Punishment -- United States -- History -- 18th century
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| Category |
Text |
| EBook-No. |
34005 |
| Release Date |
Sep 27, 2010 |
| Most Recently Updated |
Jan 7, 2021 |
| Copyright Status |
Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads |
414 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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