A review by cseibs
Madness in Civilization: The Cultural History of Insanity by Andrew Scull

2.0

Perhaps the fault is in my expectations. But this book turned out not to actually be a history of mental illness, but rather a very broad strokes accounting of the cultural history of institutional treatment of the mentally ill in select Western societies. It felt entirely incomplete and in a way dishonest. The author did not meaningfully address any non-Western "civilization", as though the West is the very definition of civilization. There also was no attempt to address community or familial attitudes and approaches toward mental illness; the entire book was oriented toward large-scale systematized approaches. And, very surprisingly given the social-economic status of many labeled mentally ill, the book is solely from the point of view of the wealthy, as though the poor have no cultural contribution on the topic. In general, the author never stopped to check his many, many privileges and, thus, the book lacked depth.