The 19th century saw a series of panics about sane individuals being locked away in lunatic asylums, and public feeling often ran high against the rising 'alienist' (or 'mad doctor') profession. English liberty was seen to be under threat from a new class of men who would sign away freedom in return for the high fees paid by unscrupulous people who wanted to be rid of a 'difficult' family member, spouse or friend. But who were the victims of this trade? And to what extent was it carried on? Why was it a problem for the wealthy and less so for the poor? Twelve separate stories of contested lunacy cases -- ranging from the 1820s to the 1890s -- reveal the various types of persons who came under threat of incarceration, the support that their plight aroused in the public mind and the newspapers, and doctors' shifting arguments about what constituted insanity.
Author(s): Sarah Wise
Publisher: The Bodley Head
Year: 2012
Language: English
Commentary: ---PDF (Conv. From .epub)---
Pages: 448
Tags: Inconvenient People, Lunacy, Liberty, Mad-Doctors, Victorian England
Contents......Page 2
About the Book......Page 3
About the Author......Page 4
Also by Sarah Wise......Page 5
Dedication......Page 6
Title Page......Page 7
A Note on Terminology......Page 8
Epigraphs......Page 9
Preface......Page 10
1. Being ‘Burrowsed’......Page 15
2. The Attorney-General of all Her Majesty’s Madmen......Page 44
3. The Alleged Lunatics’ Friend Society......Page 73
4. ‘Oh Hail, Holy Love!’......Page 99
5. ‘If I had been poor, they would have left me alone’......Page 133
6. ‘Gaskell is Single-Patient Hunting’......Page 177
7. The Woman in Yellow......Page 205
8. Juries in Revolt......Page 245
9. Dialoguing with the Unseen......Page 280
10. ‘Be sure you don’t fall, Georgie!’......Page 310
Epilogue: The Savage New Century......Page 354
Picture Credits......Page 363
Notes......Page 365
Acknowledgements......Page 385
Appendix 1......Page 388
Appendix 2......Page 392
Appendix 3......Page 395
Appendix 4......Page 402
Bibliography......Page 410
Index......Page 421
Copyright......Page 448
