The Last Asylum

A Memoir of Madness in our Times

Barbara Taylor

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Paperback

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English

Penguin Books Ltd
22 April 2015

Memoirs; Mental health services; Coping with illness

A haunting literary memoir of a journey through mental illness and the psychiatric health care system

In July 1988, Barbara Taylor, then an acclaimed young historian, was admitted to what had once been England's largest psychiatric institution- Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum, later known as Friern Hospital.

This searingly honest, thought-provoking and beautifully written memoir is the story of the author's madness years, set inside the wider story of the death of the asylum system in the twentieth century. It is a meditation on her own experience of breakdown and healing, but also that of the millions of other people who have suffered, are suffering, will suffer mental illness.

By: Barbara Taylor
Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm, Spine: 19mm
Weight: 223g
ISBN: 9780241951828
ISBN 10: 0241951828
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 22 April 2015
Recommended Age: From 0 years
Audience: College/higher education , General/trade , Professional and scholarly , Primary , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Barbara Taylor's previous books include an award-winning study of nineteenth-century socialist feminism, Eve and the New Jerusalem; an intellectual biography of the pioneer feminist Mary Wollstonecraft; and On Kindness, a defence of fellow feeling co-written with the psychoanalyst Adam Phillips. She is a longstanding editor of the leading history journal, History Workshop Journal, and a director of the Raphael Samuel History Centre. She teaches History and English at Queen Mary University of London.

Reviews for The Last Asylum: A Memoir of Madness in our Times

Eloquent, compassionate, and utterly absorbing ... The Last Asylum is the best sort of memoir, transcending the purely personal to confront a larger social history -- Sarah Waters Beautiful ... it is hard to write well enough about this book because it is so good -- Susie Orbach Independent A wise, considered and timely book -- Hilary Mantel Moving, brave and intelligent -- Susan Hill The Times Superb. Riveting, insightful and relentlessly honest -- Darian Leader An impressive book, strong on narrative, deeply felt and measured in tone... The Last Asylum will stand the test of time. Literary Review