Madness

A necessary book. It forces readers to reckon with the trauma that racism and exclusion have wrought on generations of black American families * The Sunday Times * Impassioned and rigorous study * Observer *Book of the Week* * Madness, though ostensibly the story of Crownsville, is really about the continued lack of understanding, treatment and care of the mental health of a people, Black people, who need it most * New York Times * A necessary and unforgettable book. An important and timely work -- Imani Perry A work of pure genius -- Jonathan Metzl Madness is an all-too-true story, tirelessly and comprehensively reported, of the reinstatement of antebellum conditions under the guise of mental-health treatment - an asylum for so-called ""feeble-minded"" Blacks that was, in fact, little more than slavery by another name. Antonia Hylton's sensitive, searching account of the people forever changed by this place - and its very clear, dreadful connection to today's carceral state - will leave you dumbfounded -- Robert Kolker Antonia Hylton expertly weaves together a moving personal narrative, in-depth reporting, and illuminating archival research to produce a book that left me breathless. Madness is a haunting and revelatory examination of the way that America's history of racism is deeply entangled in our mental health system -- Clint Smith