{"product_id":"inconvenient-people-lunacy-liberty-and-the-mad-doctors-in-england-paperback","title":"Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty, and the Mad-Doctors in England - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eSarah Wise\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe phenomenon of false allegations of mental illness is as old as our first interactions as human beings. Every one of us has described some other person as crazy or insane, and most all of us have had periods, moments at least, of madness. But it took the confluence of the law and medical science, mad-doctors, alienists, priests and barristers, to raise the matter to a level of \"science,\" capable of being used by conniving relatives, \"designing families\" and scheming neighbors to destroy people who found themselves in the way, people whose removal could provide their survivors with money or property or other less frivolous benefits. \u003ci\u003eGirl Interrupted\u003c\/i\u003e in only a recent example. And reversing this sort of diagnosis and incarceration became increasingly more difficult, as even the most temperate attempt to leave these \"homes\" or \"hospitals\" was deemed \"crazy.\" Kept in a madhouse, one became a little mad, as Jack Nicholson and Ken Kesey explain in \u003ci\u003eOne Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this sadly terrifying, emotionally moving, and occasionally hilarious book, twelve cases of contested lunacy are offered as examples of the shifting arguments regarding what constituted sanity and insanity. They offer unique insight into the fears of sexuality, inherited madness, greed and fraud, until public feeling shifted and turned against the rising alienists who would challenge liberty and freedom of people who were perhaps simply \"difficult,\" but were turned into victims of this unscrupulous trade. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis fascinating book is filled with stories almost impossible to believe but wildly engaging, a book one will not soon forget.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSarah Wise\u003c\/b\u003e studied at Birkbeck College at the University of London. Her most recent book, \u003ci\u003eThe Blackest Streets\u003c\/i\u003e was shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize (2009) and her first book, \u003ci\u003eThe Italian Boy: Murder and Grave Robbery in London\u003c\/i\u003e was shortlisted for the 2005 Samuel Johnson Prize and won the Crime Writer's Gold Dagger for nonfiction. She lives in London.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 496\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.4 x 8.5 x 5.7 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e July 15, 2014\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47519979733213,"sku":"9781619023222","price":21.55,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0811\/9867\/8237\/files\/8Wz3nCEkUY9781619023222.webp?v=1772235238","url":"https:\/\/handfulofbooks.com\/products\/inconvenient-people-lunacy-liberty-and-the-mad-doctors-in-england-paperback","provider":"Handful of Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}