Cart
Free Shipping in Australia
Proud to be B-Corp

Madness Roy Porter

Madness By Roy Porter

Madness by Roy Porter


$21.49
Condition - Very Good
10 in stock

Summary

This story of madness reveals the radically different perceptions of madness and approaches to its treatment, from antiquity to the beginning of the 21st century. Roy Porter explores what we really mean by "madness", covering an enormous range of topics from witches to creative geniuses.

Madness Summary

Madness: A Brief History by Roy Porter

This story of madness reveals the radically different perceptions of madness and approaches to its treatment, from antiquity to the beginning of the 21st century. Roy Porter explores what we really mean by "madness", covering an enormous range of topics from witches to creative geniuses, electric shock therapy to sexual deviancy, and psychoanalysis to Prozac. The origins of debates about how we define and deal with insanity are examined through eyewitness accounts of those treating patients, writers, artists, and the mad themselves.

Madness Reviews

Roy Porter's untimely death deprived us of one of the outstanding scholars of his generation. This short book on how mental illness has been defined and treated through the ages is brilliantly done. It's concise but not reductive; readable but not dumbed down. Porter wears his vast interdisciplinary learning lightly, and has the knack of combining elegantly clear summary with vivid and intriguing detail - from witchcraft to Freud; from Bedlam to psychopharmacology and beyond. And Porter is also highly informative whilst whetting the reader's appetite for more. In this way the book functions as an ideal (and handsomely produced) introduction to its subject; and as a compelling gateway onto its author's more than 80 other books.

About Roy Porter


Roy Porter is Professor of the Social History of Medicine at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London. He is the author of over 80 books, including Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern World and A Social History of Madness.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. Madness, Gods, and Demons; 3. The Rationality of Madness; 4. Fools and Folly; 5. Locking up the Mad; 6. The Rise of Psychiatry; 7. The Mad; 8. The Century of Psychoanalysis; 9. Conclusion: Modern Times, Ancient Problems?

Additional information

GOR001185382
9780192802668
0192802666
Madness: A Brief History by Roy Porter
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Oxford University Press
2002-03-01
253
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Madness