The Forbidden Experiment

“Roger Shattuck’s The Forbidden Experiment is a marvelous book. I am delighted to learn it is being revived; it should never have been out of print.” —Oliver Sacks “A beautiful story . . . we feel grateful to Shattuck for telling it so well.” —Robert Darnton, The New York Review of Books “Beautiful . . . a resonant story . . . the mystery will always be there, but on it Shattuck shines a warm and clarifying light.” —The Boston Globe “Roger Shattuck has done a beautiful job of recreating the story, skillfully using a wealth of known documents and discovering a few new ones. Although there have been other good books about the wild child, Mr. Shattuck’s has the merits of conciseness, humanity, and just enough detachment.” —H. E. Gruber, The New York Times Book Review “A touching story, told with insight and compassion . . . evokes the theme and myth, the fantasy of the flight from society, not only to the woods but deeper into the self.” —Los Angeles Times “Shattuck’s sensitive, balanced, and reflective study . . . bring[s] exactly before us what was before Itard—the unnerving claim of Victor’s human face.” —Clifford Geertz, The New Republic “The doctor considered the experiment a failure; yet he was a pioneer in what is today called special education, and many of his techniques were adopted by Maria Montessori. . . . The detailed discussions of Victor’s behavior and training are fascinating.” —H. H. Flowers, The Horn Book “Erudite, but never showy, [Shattuck] pieces the full story together, places it in scientific and social contexts and animates his narrative with lively asides. . . . Its appeal lies in the universal dream of escape from the responsibilities of civilized life to a simpler, freer existence. . . . Shattuck’s careful reconstruction of the experience—with the twentieth century’s perspective on psychology, history, philosophy, and linguistics—adds a rich new chapter to the endlessly interesting debate about nature versus nuture.” —Jean Strouse, Newsweek