lindsloveslit 's review for:

Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton

4.0

dark informative sad slow-paced

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Antonia Hylton did a great job with her research in this book. There were many missing and intentionally incomplete records of Crownsville State Hospital - which was the first and only Black impatient paychiarric ward in Maryland for years - that Hylton was able to piece together with the help of former staff. In doing so, she was able to make the story come alive. The part of this book that most drew me in was the weaving of our historical past and her own personal familial narrative. 

This is a must read for those who work in mental health. And if you've read and loved Nickelboys by Colson Whitehead - this is a good point to pair with that!