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4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for this advanced copy!
What an incredible chronicling of not only our collective failure to address mental health issues in the United States but our collective negligence to understand the horrors we inflicted on black Americans in the name of "mental health" and "community safety". Hylton does an excellent job of weaving the story of one place where people were placed either for treatment or punishment, focusing on the residents, staff, and the effect Crownsville had on the local community. The stories are both individual and indicative of systemic failures and purposeful ignorance. I appreciated the author's style and introduction of people, showing kindness when needed and indictment when called for. A must-read for those interested in the effects of systemic racism or the history of mental health in the United States.
What an incredible chronicling of not only our collective failure to address mental health issues in the United States but our collective negligence to understand the horrors we inflicted on black Americans in the name of "mental health" and "community safety". Hylton does an excellent job of weaving the story of one place where people were placed either for treatment or punishment, focusing on the residents, staff, and the effect Crownsville had on the local community. The stories are both individual and indicative of systemic failures and purposeful ignorance. I appreciated the author's style and introduction of people, showing kindness when needed and indictment when called for. A must-read for those interested in the effects of systemic racism or the history of mental health in the United States.
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Madness by Antonia Hylton--Truly heartwrenching, this book is about atrocities and lessons from a segregated asylum in Maryland. The asylum began on the backs of its patients--the first folks to be committed to the institution were tasked with building it. From there, the book documents injustices on racial lines through desegregation. This is one of the most sobering books I've read this year, and the author does a good job of telling the story of where we are societally today. Thumbs up.
dark
informative
sad
informative
medium-paced
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This was a very in-depth look at the mental health issues that our country faces both today and in our history. The terrible ways that "sick" were treated at these asylums, the steps that people took to try to make changes. I loved the stories of individual people sprinkled throughout. It gave the book a more personal touch. Knowing that the author's family had direct contact with this hospital made it all the more touching.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma
Antonia Hylton's Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum is a informative and very readable history of Maryland's Crownsville Hospital that was first opened just for Black patients before being integrated later in its existence before finally being shut down as deinstitutionalization of mental hospitals ran through the country. Hylton evokes the early years at Crownsville that began with Black men building the future aslyum they would be housed in. At its peak, Crownsville housed over 2,500 people for a variety of ailments (and non-ailments). It is a fascinating integration of racism, mental health policies, and stigmatization. Much of the documentation of the hospital has been lost, so the author reconstructs as best they can, highlighting particular patients and workers at the hospital and within the town. This book was so in my interest wheelhouse and would highly recommend to others.