Madness in America: Cultural and Medical Perceptions of Mental Illness Before 1914

Abstract

In this beautifully illustrated and welldocumented volume, Gamwell and Tomes lead the reader on a tour of past ideas about madness in America. The format of the book—partly an exhibition catalogue and partly a collection of historical vignettes—reflects the unusual collaborative effort of its authors who represent, respectively, the professions of museum curator and medical historian. The book begins with a Navajo night chant rug, used in the cure of an unstable person (someone who acted like a moth, in the native language), and ends with a photograph of Sigmund Freud at Clark University in 1909, on the occasion of his only visit to the United States. In between, we encounter a number of items that date from Colonial times until the first World War. Some of these were produced by the medical community and other authorities: a broad array of artifacts used in the treatment of mental illness, such