John Richardson is Professor of Sociology at Western Washington University. He is the author of Common, Delinquent, and Special: The Institutional Shape of Special Education (1999). Justin J. W. Powell is Senior Research Fellow at the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB), Germany. He is the author of Barriers to Inclusion: Special Education in the United States and Germany (2010).

"This is the most important book on special education to be produced for decades. Using historical and comparative information it demonstrates conclusively that a global commitment to inclusive education is leading to more graded, hierarchical systems in which regular education cannot function without an interconnection with special education, however this is defined and organized."—Sally Tomlinson, University of Oxford --- "Finally, a text that moves beyond comparative transnational studies in safe statistical mode. Richardson and Powell's insightful account pushes the methodological envelope, artfully illustrating how claims about nations, education, disability and children are quite literally patterned inventions to be questioned rather than naively applied. A monumental and pathbreaking must-read."—Bernadette Baker, University of Wisconsin --- "Special Education for physically and mentally disabled children should not be taken-for-granted. From the earliest asylums and dungeons for the 'dumb, feebleminded, and insane,' through 19th century theories of eugenics, to the current paradox of mainstream educational inclusion yet with persistent stigma, Richardson and Powell present a sweeping and insightful comparative sociological history of the origins and development of Special Education. They show that the ways youth with special needs are defined and educated reflect core ideologies and political struggles at the heart of a society. There has never before been such a rich and penetrating study of Special Education—this is the authoritative sociological analysis of the topic."—David P. Baker, The Pennsylvania State University --- "In an area of educational practice rife with nostrums and fruitless ideological controversy, this unique book identifies key issues that children with unusual needs pose for the enterprise of schooling."—Robert Dreeben, University of Chicago