This is such a readable piece of research - if only all historians and various scholars could write with such clarity! It comes across as a great entry-level text for disability studies, and I say that as someone who reads very little in disability studies and is therefore quite ignorant, but who was consistently interested and informed as I read this. Please note that when I say that it's entry-level, I don't mean to be disparaging. It's just that this book covers a period of several hundred years, ranging from pre-1492 to the present, and (excluding things like notes and index) it does it in less than 200 pages. That's a relatively short page length to cover such a span, and so I'm left feeling that I've just read a very competent overview of a very complicated topic... a generalist approach that provides useful context before readers can delve into texts of greater specificity.

As someone who likes to read generalist texts in the sciences, books like this one can be invaluable, both to experts and to interested novices. The readability I mentioned earlier underlines this, eschewing theory for personal stories taken from letters and articles and lived experiences during different time periods. Nielsen's linking of perceived disability to economic capacity is a convincing one given the cultural context of the history she's relating, and it's got me thinking about disability in new ways. (New to me, anyway.)

The whole thing was just extremely lucid and very informative. I enjoyed it immensely.