Theaters of Madness: Insane Asylums and Nineteenth-Century American Culture

by Benjamin Reiss

In the mid-1800s, a utopian movement to rehabilitate the insane resulted in a wave of publicly funded asylums—many of which became unexpected centers of cultural activity. Housed in magnificent structures with lush grounds, patients participated in theatrical programs, debating societies, literary journals, schools, and religious services. Theaters of Madness explores both the culture these rich offerings fomented and the asylum’s place in the fabric of nineteenth-century life, reanimating a time when the treatment of the insane was a central topic in debates over democracy, freedom, and modernity.

 

Benjamin Reiss explores the creative lives of patients and the cultural demands of their doctors. Their frequently clashing views turned practically all of American culture—from blackface minstrel shows to the works of William Shakespeare—into a battlefield in the war on insanity. Reiss also shows how asylums touched the lives and shaped the writing of key figures, such as Emerson and Poe, who viewed the system alternately as the fulfillment of a democratic ideal and as a kind of medical enslavement. Without neglecting this troubling contradiction, Theaters of Madness prompts us to reflect on what our society can learn from a generation that urgently and creatively tried to solve the problem of mental illness.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Psychology

237 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Durakov · Rating 5 out of 5]

A subtly iconoclastic book for a series of fairly academic essays, each one of which draws our attention to very ambiguous scenes in 19th century asylum culture. There's some risk in taking on such loaded events as blackface minstrels in asylums or the unexpected class dynamics between patients and attendants or the patriarchal themes of 19th century women's exposes of psychiatry, but Reiss is careful and precise and handles these potentially explosive topics with care.

[Brian Aldrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the rise and fall of the mental hospital and its relationship to 19th century culture and society.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horribly banal in what could have been an interesting subject matter.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and thought-provoking, this book piqued an interest in reading more on the subject.