Treatment of the mentally ill has a long and seedy history, a good deal of it revolving around extreme abuse and other scary things like lobotomies and electroshock therapy. Attitudes changed considerably by the Victorian era, although there was quite a way to go before anyone created what we would consider “modern” treatment plans. As…
Tag: non-fiction
First Chapter, First Paragraph: Broadmoor Revealed
(First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted by Bibliophile By the Sea. Every Tuesday we share the first paragraph or two of a book we’re reading or thinking about reading soon. Care to join us?) I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, but when I do I always go for the good stuff — in this…
Review: My Planet
My obsession with Mary Roach is well documented, so I was surprised to learn that she once wrote articles for Reader’s Digest. Fortunately the editors of this classic American magazine are geniuses, and recently published all of Roach’s columns in My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places. Not only are the essays further evidence…
Review: This I Believe
I’ve used my recent weeks’ commute to listen to This I Believe, a series of 80 recordings of people — alive and dead, famous and not — sharing their personal philosophies in just a few hundred words. Originally conceived in 1949 and revived in 2003, This I Believe has become a global phenomenon and a…
Review: The Bully Pulpit
The early 20th century was a time of sweeping changes. Aided by the advent of investigative journalism, the common man learned more about than inner workings of governments that ever before, and many of them did not like what they saw. The Bully Pulpit details the life and political career of one of America’s greatest…