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Modern Madness: 1850-1945CE
In this episode, we begin to approach a more recognizable chapter in the history of madness and explore the period from 1850 to the end of World War II. With the advent of more scientific approaches came some of the most harmful practices in the care of the mad ever recorded. We begin with an overview of the asylum system and spend time with some of the most important developments of the period, including psychoanalysis, lobotomies, and the prevalence of eugenics.
EDIT: During our conversation about the Nazis, we gave them more credit than they deserved. Yes they were obsessed with engineering and cataloging, but it was all in pursuit of their fascist ideology, not science. They certainly saw themselves as scientific, but this is more in line with their propaganda than it is with reality. Just another way that bad lenses produce bad outcomes for technology and it's applications.
Book recommendation:
Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets by Luke Dittrich
Bibliography:
Briggs, Laura. “The Race of Hysteria: ‘Overcivilization’ and the ‘Savage’ in Late Nineteenth-Century Obstetrics and Gynecology.” American Quarterly 52, no. 2 (2000): 246–73. https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2000.0013.
Dittrich, Luke. Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets. Random House trade paperback edition. New York: Random House, 2017.
El-Hai, Jack. The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2005.
Pietikäinen, Petteri. Madness: A History. London: Routledge, 2015.
Rosenberg, Kenneth Paul, and Jessica DuLong. Bedlam: An Intimate Journey into America’s Mental Health Crisis. New York: Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House, 2019.
Porter, Roy. A Social History of Madness. Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1987.
Scull, Andrew. Madness: A Very Short Introduction. Very Short Introductions 279. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Scull, Andrew. Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity, from the Bible to Freud, from the Madhouse to Modern Medicine. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 2015.
Showalter, Elaine. The Female Malady: Women, Madness and English Culture, 1830 - 1980. Reprint. London: Virago Pr, 2011.
Contact:
Find us on Instagram @bedlambookclub
Email us at [email protected]
View all episodes
By Bedlam Book ClubIn this episode, we begin to approach a more recognizable chapter in the history of madness and explore the period from 1850 to the end of World War II. With the advent of more scientific approaches came some of the most harmful practices in the care of the mad ever recorded. We begin with an overview of the asylum system and spend time with some of the most important developments of the period, including psychoanalysis, lobotomies, and the prevalence of eugenics.
EDIT: During our conversation about the Nazis, we gave them more credit than they deserved. Yes they were obsessed with engineering and cataloging, but it was all in pursuit of their fascist ideology, not science. They certainly saw themselves as scientific, but this is more in line with their propaganda than it is with reality. Just another way that bad lenses produce bad outcomes for technology and it's applications.
Book recommendation:
Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets by Luke Dittrich
Bibliography:
Briggs, Laura. “The Race of Hysteria: ‘Overcivilization’ and the ‘Savage’ in Late Nineteenth-Century Obstetrics and Gynecology.” American Quarterly 52, no. 2 (2000): 246–73. https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2000.0013.
Dittrich, Luke. Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets. Random House trade paperback edition. New York: Random House, 2017.
El-Hai, Jack. The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2005.
Pietikäinen, Petteri. Madness: A History. London: Routledge, 2015.
Rosenberg, Kenneth Paul, and Jessica DuLong. Bedlam: An Intimate Journey into America’s Mental Health Crisis. New York: Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House, 2019.
Porter, Roy. A Social History of Madness. Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1987.
Scull, Andrew. Madness: A Very Short Introduction. Very Short Introductions 279. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Scull, Andrew. Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity, from the Bible to Freud, from the Madhouse to Modern Medicine. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 2015.
Showalter, Elaine. The Female Malady: Women, Madness and English Culture, 1830 - 1980. Reprint. London: Virago Pr, 2011.
Contact:
Find us on Instagram @bedlambookclub
Email us at [email protected]