Madmen: A Social History of Madhouses, Mad Doctors & Lunatics (Revealing History) - Hardcover

Porter, Roy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0752419722 ISBN 13: 9780752419725

Publisher: Tempus, 2004

Synopsis

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.

About this title

From the Publisher

What was it like to be insane in the Georgian England of Mary Wollstonecraft and Coleridge (himself afflicted with madness)? How were our eighteenth–century ancestors “sectioned” and how were they treated by the fledgling psychiatric “profession?” 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, jeering, ogling sightseers were permitted entry—for a fee of course.

Until his recent untimely death, Roy Porter was one of Britain’s most revered social historians. His other books include Enlightenment, London: A Social History and Quacks, also published by Tempus.

About the Author

Until his recent untimely death, Roy Porter was one of Britain’s most revered social historians. His other books include Enlightenment, London: A Social History and Quacks: Fakers and Charlatans in Medicine, also published by Tempus.

Edition details

• Publisher: Tempus
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0752419722
• ISBN 13: 9780752419725
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 344