false 352007 654819 1586481614 9781586481612 29 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176793201m/654819.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176793201s/654819.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/654819.Gracefully_Insane_Life_and_Death_Inside_America_s_Premier_Mental_Hospital 3.80 144 Gracefully Insane is a knowledgeable historical portrait of New England's McLean Hospital, until recently the mental institution equivalent of the Plaza Hotel. Fenceless and unguarded, McLean's grounds were landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted. Amenities included tennis courts, a golf course, room service, and a riding stable. As one director said, "If you don't know where you are, then you're in the right place." Its patients have included James Taylor, Robert Lowell, and Ray Charles. It also looms large in The Bell Jar and Girl, Interrupted, written by former patients Sylvia Plath and Susanna Kaysen. Beam weaves patients' and employees' stories with an informal review of mental health treatments through the years, including lobotomies, insulin-induced comas, ice-water baths, and a ghastly device called the "coercion chair." Gracefully Insane is amiable, lively, and honest. Its many anecdotes (derived from patient records, journals, and interviews) are by turns poignant, humorous, and unsettling. --H. O'Billovitch]]> 352007 3.65 210 64 2001 4101425 1586484877 9781586484873 32 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255628085m/4101425.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255628085s/4101425.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4101425.A_Great_Idea_at_the_Time_The_Rise_Fall_and_Curious_Afterlife_of_the_Great_Books 3.31 52 In A Great Idea at the Time Alex Beam explores the Great Books mania, in an entertaining and strangely poignant portrait of American popular culture on the threshold of the television age. Populated with memorable characters, A Great Idea at the Time will leave readers asking themselves: Have I read Lucretius’s De Rerum Natura lately? If not, why not?

]]> 352007 3.65 210 64 2008 848385 0312058128 9780312058128 1 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178876851m/848385.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178876851s/848385.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/848385.The_Americans_Are_Coming_ 2.50 2 352007 3.65 210 64 1991 848384 0312000014 9780312000011 0 http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/848384.Fellow_travelers 0.0 0 352007 3.65 210 64 1987