Sacrificed for Honor: Italian Infant Abandonment and the Politics of Reproductive Control
Social History History Biography & Memoir Gender Studies Reproductive Rights Italian History Church History
David I. Kertzer’s 1993 first-edition hardcover “Sacrificed for Honor: Italian Infant Abandonment and the Politics of Reproductive Control” is the landmark history that uncovered Italy’s long-hidden foundling-story: for three centuries as many as one child in four was anonymously left at a church-run wheel, a practice justified by church and state as the price of female “honor.” Drawing on dusty parish ledgers, police files and personal letters, Kertzer shows how the ritual protected patriarchal property, filled church coffers and created a huge underclass of wet-nurses, foster families and state wards. Vintage copies with the original Beacon Press dust jacket are now scarce, especially in the tight, clean condition collectors prize.
Why this copy matters: it is a sturdy first printing, complete with the evocative jacket art and all 252 pages unmarked and un-dog-eared. A prior owner’s neat inscription and a clipped corner on the front endpaper are the only signs of its journey, leaving the text block fresh for reading or display. The binding is square and firm—no shaken pages—making it an excellent shelf-piece for historians, gender-studies scholars or anyone fascinated by reproductive rights.
Beyond rarity, the content still fuels modern debates. Kertzer links the Catholic campaign against abortion and infanticide to the rise of Italy’s public-welfare state, tracing how the same “moral” arguments once used to save foundlings were later deployed to police women’s bodies under Mussolini. The result is a riveting, youth-accessible narrative that reads like a detective story while delivering serious scholarship—perfect for high-school advanced-placement classes, university seminars or book-club discussion. Owning this vintage Beacon first edition means holding the book that changed the conversation about honor, motherhood and state power in Italy and beyond.
Refer to our eBay listing for a full condition report and many more high-quality pictures of this item.
Buy Now