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A review by oscarwildein
Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
I don't rate nonfiction books because it feels strange to point to people's lives and to give them a number based on how much their story entertained me.
This book was incredibly hard to get through, but it was so important. I never learned any of this in school despite it being local history. It shocked me that so many truly vile things happened to so many people and that it was covered up and gatekept by the state so easily. The writing was so well done and told these peoples stories so beautifully and carefully that it seemed like the author truly knew and cared for each individual she wrote about. This book is something that should be required reading for everyone, and especially for people in Maryland.
This book was incredibly hard to get through, but it was so important. I never learned any of this in school despite it being local history. It shocked me that so many truly vile things happened to so many people and that it was covered up and gatekept by the state so easily. The writing was so well done and told these peoples stories so beautifully and carefully that it seemed like the author truly knew and cared for each individual she wrote about. This book is something that should be required reading for everyone, and especially for people in Maryland.