Abandoned: The Untold Story of Orphan Asylums

by Michael T. Keene

In 1848 Ireland was gripped by famine. Nearly a million people died of starvation. Desperate, a million more abandoned their homeland and immigrated to America. Many settled in Five Points, an area of Lower Manhattan infamous for its squalor, gang violence and disease. By the mid-nineteenth century, an estimated 30,000 orphaned and homeless children roamed New York City. They survived by resorting to petty crime, by begging and by selling newspapers for a nickel a piece. They slept in alleyways, in cellars and even sewers. For protection, they joined the violent gangs of the Bowery Boys, the Dead Rabbits and the Roach Guards. In response to this crisis, the age of orphan asylums began, culminating in one of the most improbable and audacious episodes in American history. Called the Orphan Train Movement, it endeavored to rescue these children lost to the streets and our institutions, by heroes who fought for their liberation.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

182 pages, Paperback

First published February 3, 2014

About the author

Author, film producer, financial advisor, folklorist, hockey puck (not necessarily in that order)

Reviews

[AliNicole Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abandoned is a wonderfully engaging look into the history of orphan asylums and the people who created them. Michael T. Keene knows how to compress history into a few short paragraphs per section without the book feeling like an abridged version of itself. I tend to zone out when reading historical tomes (unlike my husband!)with their hundreds of different names and places that blend together after a short time reading. I did do further research after reading a few sections like the one on Cadwallader D. Colden and his New York House of Refuge and Father Nelson Henry Baker. I also would have liked to know more about the The Asylum for Orphaned and Destitute Indian Children...did Philip E. Thomas let the children keep their history and traditions or were they assimilated into white culture? My googling around yielded not much more information than the book.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty fascinating read which I quickly finished. I read one of Keene's other books first, and while it was a good account of Insane Asylums, it read more like a report. This book reads more like a story of a time in history often untold; highly recommended for anyone interested in the subject or totally unaware of it's place in our country's history.