House Dogs in the Turnips

by Joseph H Ladd, Jason Carpenter (Editor)

Rhode Island had a place where it sent the people it wanted to forget. For forty-seven years, Dr. Joseph H. Ladd ran it, and he recorded the harvests and the deaths, year after year.

Then a nine-year-old boy died in a shower room, and the man who wrote everything down wrote nothing.

House Dogs in the Turnips is what he left out. Drawn from official reports, institutional letters, and records no one was meant to read again, it resurrects Ladd's own voice as a posthumous memoir, written in the aftermath of the accusation that ended his career.

"The farm does not lie," he wrote. "The soil gives you back exactly what your labor and the weather and the worms allow."

108 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 11, 2026

Reviews

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disheartening

As a previous director at an agency who supported those with disabilities, this was hard to read, because a lot of it still happening. Lack of funs from the state, not enough staff, and abuse happening right under leaderships nose with no concern raised. Because of that, we need to keep learning, and never forget history.

[Heidi Lewis · Rating 2.5 out of 5]

It was good. I live in Rhode Island so wanted to read this.