Madness and Society in Eighteenth-Century Scotland

ISBN-13: 9780198207870 / Angielski / Twarda / 2000 / 464 str.

R. A. Houston

Opis

How did people view mental health problems in the eighteenth century, and what do the attitudes of ordinary people towards those afflicted tell us about the values of society at that time? Here, Rab Houston draws upon a wide range of contemporary sources including asylum documents, civil and criminal court records, including the written and spoken words of sufferers themselves, to present unique insights into the many issues related to madness. A detailed yet profoundly humane and compassionate study, this book describes the everyday experiences of those suffering mental impairments ranging from idiocy to lunacy and explores the many meanings and implications for society in the eighteenth century.

Recenzje

This is an important study of a society and its attitudes towards insanity (important is, if anything, an understatement of its scope and achievement), it is so not only because of the wealth of detail, of the insane, the imputedly insane, and of sane opinion about insanity, but because of the exemplary sensitivity with which this most personal of topics is unfailingly handled.