-, From Moses to Harry Potter, the stories of abandoned children have always intrigued us, even when we lack humane responses to their situation. In this well-written and insightful book, Miller provides access to the experience of children in the past, as well as the complex world of public and private charities, municipal reformers, clergy, and physicians who interacted with them in nineteenth-century New York City. -Joan Jacobs Brumberg, author of Kansas Charley: The Story of a 19th-Century Boy Murderer Highly recommended. - Choice , Meticulously researched, compellingly written, Abandoned is a highly original study of an inexplicably understudied topic: child abandonment in the nineteenth-century American city. This important book provides a powerful corrective to excessively romanticized views of childhood in the past. -Steven Mintz, author of Huck's Raft: A History of American Childhood Julie Miller's deeply researched book on foundlings in nineteenth-century New York City fills a long-standing lacunae in the history of dependent children. - Journal of American History ,