Madmen : a social history of madhouses, mad-doctors & lunatics /
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| Author / Creator: | Porter, Roy, 1946-2002. |
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| Edition: | Ill. ed. |
| Imprint: | Stroud : Tempus, 2006. |
| Description: | 430 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 20 cm. |
| Language: | English |
| Subject: | |
| Format: | Print Book |
| URL for this record: | http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/6422659 |
| Summary: | What was it like to be insane in the Georgian England of Mary Wollstonecraft and Coleridge? Indeed, how was the most famous mad person of the century--Shelley's "old, mad, blind, despised king" George III--treated before his final descent into insanity in 1808? The best-selling popular historian, Roy Porter, looks at the bizarre and savage practices used by doctors for treating those afflicted by manias, ranging from huge doses of opium, blood-letting, and cold water immersion to beatings, confinement in cages, and blistering. The author also reveals how Bethlem--the London asylum created to care for the mentally sick of the capital--was riddled with sadism and embezzlement, and if that wasn't dehumanizing enough, ogling sightseers were permitted entry--for a fee of course. |
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| Item Description: | This ed. originally published: 2004. |
| Physical Description: | 430 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 20 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 0752437305 (pbk.) 9780752437309 (pbk.) |
