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balancinghistorybooks's review
4.0
Review written in 2o12.
Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England is marketed as Sarah Wise’s ‘engrossing and most ambitious work yet’. The book aims to ‘revaluate our image of mental health and society in the nineteenth century’, and is said to be ‘both page turning and scholarly’.
Wise has set out to show twelve true stories from Victorian times, in which sane people were locked away when declared ‘mad’. Those included in Inconvenient People have been ‘selected to highlight the range of people who had to fight for their liberty against the imputation of insanity’. Her preface to the volume is rather informative, and leads incredibly well into the stories which follow.
We learn about the cases of Richard Paternoster, sent to Kensington House Asylum by his surgeon father; a doctor named John Quail, perceived as a ‘dangerous lunatic’ for ‘pestering Whitehall officials about a pension and remuneration he believed he was owed’; eminent Edward Bulwer-Lytton who cruelly confined his wife Rosina to an asylum ‘in controversial circumstances’; and Louisa Crookenden, mother of four babies who died in infancy and who later tried to commit suicide, amongst others. Each case reads like a short story might, and Wise has encompassed all the information available to her and presented it in an accessible format. Whilst the volume sets out to show the reader twelve stories relating to misconstrued lunacy, however, there are only actually ten featured, which is a shame.
As one might expect, Inconvenient People is rather information heavy, and unless being read for scholarly purposes, it is a far more beneficial volume to read one case at a time so as not to get too bogged down with all the facts.
The book contains a note on the terminology used throughout, ranging from ‘pauper lunatics’ who were unable to pay the fees for their care, to ‘single patient’, which ‘usually implied a wealthy lunatic in non-asylum care’. Informative maps have been included, along with illustrations which go with the text. The only downside is that some of these pictures have not been given captions, and therefore look as though they have been placed haphazardly with paragraphs that do not relate to them.
To conclude, Inconvenient People is an incredibly interesting book, and it is clear that Wise has put a lot of thought into the varied cases she has used and the way in which she has presented her information. It is an informative volume, which is equally as useful to a scholar of Victorian history or psychiatry as to an everyday reader interested in lunacy and social conditions of the nineteenth century.
Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England is marketed as Sarah Wise’s ‘engrossing and most ambitious work yet’. The book aims to ‘revaluate our image of mental health and society in the nineteenth century’, and is said to be ‘both page turning and scholarly’.
Wise has set out to show twelve true stories from Victorian times, in which sane people were locked away when declared ‘mad’. Those included in Inconvenient People have been ‘selected to highlight the range of people who had to fight for their liberty against the imputation of insanity’. Her preface to the volume is rather informative, and leads incredibly well into the stories which follow.
We learn about the cases of Richard Paternoster, sent to Kensington House Asylum by his surgeon father; a doctor named John Quail, perceived as a ‘dangerous lunatic’ for ‘pestering Whitehall officials about a pension and remuneration he believed he was owed’; eminent Edward Bulwer-Lytton who cruelly confined his wife Rosina to an asylum ‘in controversial circumstances’; and Louisa Crookenden, mother of four babies who died in infancy and who later tried to commit suicide, amongst others. Each case reads like a short story might, and Wise has encompassed all the information available to her and presented it in an accessible format. Whilst the volume sets out to show the reader twelve stories relating to misconstrued lunacy, however, there are only actually ten featured, which is a shame.
As one might expect, Inconvenient People is rather information heavy, and unless being read for scholarly purposes, it is a far more beneficial volume to read one case at a time so as not to get too bogged down with all the facts.
The book contains a note on the terminology used throughout, ranging from ‘pauper lunatics’ who were unable to pay the fees for their care, to ‘single patient’, which ‘usually implied a wealthy lunatic in non-asylum care’. Informative maps have been included, along with illustrations which go with the text. The only downside is that some of these pictures have not been given captions, and therefore look as though they have been placed haphazardly with paragraphs that do not relate to them.
To conclude, Inconvenient People is an incredibly interesting book, and it is clear that Wise has put a lot of thought into the varied cases she has used and the way in which she has presented her information. It is an informative volume, which is equally as useful to a scholar of Victorian history or psychiatry as to an everyday reader interested in lunacy and social conditions of the nineteenth century.
voraciousreader's review
4.0
I love reading history and this book was a favourite. It went through the topic with a way that read well, but did not shy away from the difficulties of the topic either. I have read other works by this author and hope to read more.
librarianonparade's review
4.0
They have become two of the most recognisable stereotypes of women in the Victorian age, thanks to novels such as Jane Eyre and The Woman in White: the madwoman in the attic and the innocent heroine wrongfully imprisoned in a lunatic asylum. In this book, Wise sets out not necessarily to expose those stereotypes, but to explore the society that created them and uncover the reality of the lunacy system in Victorian England.
For a start, the majority of 'lunatics' incarcerated were male, whether they were held in public asylums, private care homes or within their own homes;the myth of the damsel in distress proving to be just that. Some undoubtedly were insane and were held for their own safety and the safety of others. But a great number were not insane, were guilty of little more than the kind of eccentricities and personality quirks that we today would scarcely blink at. It is these cases Wise uncovers in this book - individuals were dared to go against society's norms, who wished to 'marry beneath them' or not marry at all, who held unconventional religious beliefs, who stood in the way of economic progress of their husbands, wives or families.
The burgeoning field of psychologists and psychiatrists, known then as 'alienists', do not come across well in this book - that said, they were at the forefront of a new and uncharted field of human medicine, and it cannot be entirely held against them when there was indeed so many disagreements about what even constituted lunacy and how one could recognise it. But there were enough alienists, 'mad-doctors' and asylum keepers who were prepared to sign anything for money that it is no wonder there was so much concern and public outcry over the ease with which a British citizen could be deprived of their liberty, with no appeal, no trial, no right to know who had signed the order or why.
Ironically, as Wise points out in her conclusion, despite the fact that we consider the 'sane lunatic' a stereotype of the Victorian age, with every family having not just a skeleton in the closet but a relative in the attic, it was the middle of the twentieth century that really took things to extremes, with young women held for decades simply for bearing an illegitimate child, teenagers held under middle or old age for rebellious youthful antics. And really, she asks, have things changed so much? The stigma of mental illness remains, and the public seem much less concerned about the erosion of civil liberties than they were a century or more ago.
For a start, the majority of 'lunatics' incarcerated were male, whether they were held in public asylums, private care homes or within their own homes;the myth of the damsel in distress proving to be just that. Some undoubtedly were insane and were held for their own safety and the safety of others. But a great number were not insane, were guilty of little more than the kind of eccentricities and personality quirks that we today would scarcely blink at. It is these cases Wise uncovers in this book - individuals were dared to go against society's norms, who wished to 'marry beneath them' or not marry at all, who held unconventional religious beliefs, who stood in the way of economic progress of their husbands, wives or families.
The burgeoning field of psychologists and psychiatrists, known then as 'alienists', do not come across well in this book - that said, they were at the forefront of a new and uncharted field of human medicine, and it cannot be entirely held against them when there was indeed so many disagreements about what even constituted lunacy and how one could recognise it. But there were enough alienists, 'mad-doctors' and asylum keepers who were prepared to sign anything for money that it is no wonder there was so much concern and public outcry over the ease with which a British citizen could be deprived of their liberty, with no appeal, no trial, no right to know who had signed the order or why.
Ironically, as Wise points out in her conclusion, despite the fact that we consider the 'sane lunatic' a stereotype of the Victorian age, with every family having not just a skeleton in the closet but a relative in the attic, it was the middle of the twentieth century that really took things to extremes, with young women held for decades simply for bearing an illegitimate child, teenagers held under middle or old age for rebellious youthful antics. And really, she asks, have things changed so much? The stigma of mental illness remains, and the public seem much less concerned about the erosion of civil liberties than they were a century or more ago.
kateclysm's review
2.0
The text rambles, as if the author were telling a fantastically distracted story instead of laying down a factual account of the conditions of insane asylums. There is also much description of the wealthy and the very wealthy, and little mention of the very poor, although if one were to infer what happened to people with no money in these places it's easy to imagine the descriptions would keep a person up at night. It's possible this got covered later in the book, I couldn't finish due to the rambling prose.
kittyg's review
3.0
This book is one I read as it made the WellcomeBookPrize shortlist and I am doing a little reading project of some of the shortlisted books with my friend Elena. I am actually very glad I did read this book as it was a very insightful read and it was a topic I didn't know too much about before reading this book, but I did find it to be a bit of a mixed bag at times too.
This book is divided into quite a few different sections, each on focuses on a case of an individual who is wrongfully/badly mistreated and sentenced to an asylum or single-patient care in the house of a lunatic doctor. I think the idea of working chronologically throughout the century, starting with the earlier high-profile cases and following through is a good one, and the chronology of the book worked well for me.
I did find as the book went on that there were many similarities throughout the cases and I felt like there was actually quite a lot that could maybe have been summarised/cut as it wasn't all that essential to repeat or show a very slight difference between the cases.
This book definitely had some very good insights on why things took so very long to change and why today we still struggle with identifying and treating mental health conditions, but I just wish it had been a bit more choppy and fast-paced at times. It was a solid overview that sometimes gave a bit too much detail, but it made for some interesting tidbits and certainly kept me occupied whilst reading. 3*s overall.
This book is divided into quite a few different sections, each on focuses on a case of an individual who is wrongfully/badly mistreated and sentenced to an asylum or single-patient care in the house of a lunatic doctor. I think the idea of working chronologically throughout the century, starting with the earlier high-profile cases and following through is a good one, and the chronology of the book worked well for me.
I did find as the book went on that there were many similarities throughout the cases and I felt like there was actually quite a lot that could maybe have been summarised/cut as it wasn't all that essential to repeat or show a very slight difference between the cases.
This book definitely had some very good insights on why things took so very long to change and why today we still struggle with identifying and treating mental health conditions, but I just wish it had been a bit more choppy and fast-paced at times. It was a solid overview that sometimes gave a bit too much detail, but it made for some interesting tidbits and certainly kept me occupied whilst reading. 3*s overall.
halfmanhalfbook's review
3.0
In the mid Nineteenth century there was a series of panics about sane people being interred in lunatic asylums. This coupled with the rise of doctors who specialised in diagnosing the insane, regardless of actual condition, people felt their very liberty was under threat.
Through twelve case histories Wise brings to life the mental state of the middle and upper classes, and the way they treated their relatives who were considered different or odd in some way. She details cases where people were snatched from the street following a diagnosis from two doctors in the pay of the people most likely to benefit from the incarceration of those individuals. She details the frankly disturbing practices of the Commission that was charged with overseeing the law, and the way that the system was run and the reasons behind incarceration. Some of these reasons were so small and could lock people away for decades.
A well written book on the practices, and the reforms that were pushed through as society came to understand exactly what went on in the institutes. Worth a read for anyone interested in the history of mental health.
Through twelve case histories Wise brings to life the mental state of the middle and upper classes, and the way they treated their relatives who were considered different or odd in some way. She details cases where people were snatched from the street following a diagnosis from two doctors in the pay of the people most likely to benefit from the incarceration of those individuals. She details the frankly disturbing practices of the Commission that was charged with overseeing the law, and the way that the system was run and the reasons behind incarceration. Some of these reasons were so small and could lock people away for decades.
A well written book on the practices, and the reforms that were pushed through as society came to understand exactly what went on in the institutes. Worth a read for anyone interested in the history of mental health.
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