Drawing on different sources, this book shows that the abandonment of children was a familiar and widespread part of European domestic life, from the Roman Empire to the Renaissance. It was a custom accepted and regulated by the Church and civil authorities and, in the absence of reliable birth control, it was a practice often essential to the survival of the rest of the family. John Boswell's book "Christianity, social Tolerance and Homosexuality" won the 1981 American Book Award for history.
- ISBN10 0713990198
- ISBN13 9780713990195
- Publish Date 27 April 1989 (first published 1 January 1988)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 14 July 1994
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
- Imprint Allen Lane
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 512
- Language English