Elegant Asylum: Life and Death in a Row of Mental Hospitals in the U.S.

Author: Beam, A. (USA), written by, Chen Fuyang, translated by
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: Through extensive research and in-depth interviews, the author has acquired a detailed history of McLean, the American "aristocratic" psychiatric hospital established in the early 19th century—as its subtitle states, this book describes the "death" and "life" of the hospital and the people who once lived there. It was home to many prominent New England aristocrats, Freud's disciple and friend, as well as the world-renowned poets Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath, and the musician Ray Charles, among others. These brilliant names intertwine with shocking terms like prefrontal lobotomy, electroconvulsive therapy, and immersion therapy, forming an addictive "Boston psychiatric customs painting."