Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York
ISBN-13:
9781616205768
ISBN-10:
1616205768
Edition:
First Edition
Author:
Stacy Horn
Publication date:
2018
Publisher:
Algonquin Books
Format:
Hardcover
304 pages
Category:
Mental Health
,
History
,
Psychology & Counseling
,
State & Local
,
United States History
,
History
,
Psychology
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Book details
ISBN-13:
9781616205768
ISBN-10:
1616205768
Edition:
First Edition
Author:
Stacy Horn
Publication date:
2018
Publisher:
Algonquin Books
Format:
Hardcover
304 pages
Category:
Mental Health
,
History
,
Psychology & Counseling
,
State & Local
,
United States History
,
History
,
Psychology
Summary
Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York (ISBN-13: 9781616205768 and ISBN-10: 1616205768), written by authors
Stacy Horn, was published by Algonquin Books in 2018.
With an overall rating of 3.7 stars, it's a notable title among other
Mental Health
(History, Psychology & Counseling, State & Local, United States History, History, Psychology) books. You can easily purchase or rent Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York (Hardcover) from BooksRun,
along with many other new and used
Mental Health
books
and textbooks.
And, if you're looking to sell your copy, our current buyback offer is $0.37.
Description
“A riveting character-driven dive into 19th-century New York and the extraordinary history of Blackwell’s Island.”
—Laurie Gwen Shapiro, author of The Stowaway: A Young Man’s Extraordinary Adventure to Antarctica
On a two-mile stretch of land in New York’s East River, a 19th-century horror story was unfolding . . .
Today we call it Roosevelt Island. Then, it was Blackwell’s, site of a lunatic asylum, two prisons, an almshouse, and a number of hospitals. Conceived as the most modern, humane incarceration facility the world ever seen, Blackwell’s Island quickly became, in the words of a visiting Charles Dickens, “a lounging, listless madhouse.”
In the first contemporary investigative account of Blackwell’s, Stacy Horn tells this chilling narrative through the gripping voices of the island’s inhabitants, as well as the period’s officials, reformers, and journalists, including the celebrated Nellie Bly. Digging through city records, newspaper articles, and archival reports, Horn brings this forgotten history alive: there was terrible overcrowding; prisoners were enlisted to care for the insane; punishment was harsh and unfair; and treatment was nonexistent.
Throughout the book, we return to the extraordinary Reverend William Glenney French as he ministers to Blackwell’s residents, battles the bureaucratic mazes of the Department of Correction and a corrupt City Hall, testifies at salacious trials, and in his diary wonders about man’s inhumanity to man. In Damnation Island, Stacy Horn shows us how far we’ve come in caring for the least fortunate among us—and reminds us how much work still remains.
—Laurie Gwen Shapiro, author of The Stowaway: A Young Man’s Extraordinary Adventure to Antarctica
On a two-mile stretch of land in New York’s East River, a 19th-century horror story was unfolding . . .
Today we call it Roosevelt Island. Then, it was Blackwell’s, site of a lunatic asylum, two prisons, an almshouse, and a number of hospitals. Conceived as the most modern, humane incarceration facility the world ever seen, Blackwell’s Island quickly became, in the words of a visiting Charles Dickens, “a lounging, listless madhouse.”
In the first contemporary investigative account of Blackwell’s, Stacy Horn tells this chilling narrative through the gripping voices of the island’s inhabitants, as well as the period’s officials, reformers, and journalists, including the celebrated Nellie Bly. Digging through city records, newspaper articles, and archival reports, Horn brings this forgotten history alive: there was terrible overcrowding; prisoners were enlisted to care for the insane; punishment was harsh and unfair; and treatment was nonexistent.
Throughout the book, we return to the extraordinary Reverend William Glenney French as he ministers to Blackwell’s residents, battles the bureaucratic mazes of the Department of Correction and a corrupt City Hall, testifies at salacious trials, and in his diary wonders about man’s inhumanity to man. In Damnation Island, Stacy Horn shows us how far we’ve come in caring for the least fortunate among us—and reminds us how much work still remains.
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