Will Ireland Apologize to the Women of the Magdalene Laundries?

The 1955 advert for the Magdalene laundry in Dublin, Ireland reads like a tear-jerking charity appeal: “The Superioress and Sisters of The Magdalen Asylum … very earnestly beg the support of the liberal and kind-hearted to help them with the upkeep of the Institution for 130 Poor Penitents, who receive a home within its walls.” But the reality for many of the “penitents” — or repentant sinners — living in these institutions was very different from the ad’s beneficent tone.

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Putting the Green Into Clean

Back when he was establishing his career in investment banking, Roger Barnett made all the right moves: degrees from Harvard and Yale; jobs in London, Paris and New York City; and regular appearances in the society pages along with his wife Sloan. Today Barnett, 43, has a job at a direct-selling company in a nondescript office park about an hour inland from San Francisco

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