Insanity, Institutions and Society, 1800-1914: A Social History of Madness in Comparative Perspective
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چکیده
The social history of madness is a vibrant area of intellectual enquiry which in the past 20 years has generated an impressive series of monographs and essay collections. This volume is a scholarly addition to the literature. Although its origins lie i n a seminar series and a conference, both held at the University of Exeter, the strong focus on institutions during the long nineteenth century provides a natural coherence which is sustained across the comparative perspective taking in British India and the Cape Colony as well as Wales, Scotland and Ireland. This coherence is consolidated by a substantial introduction and careful editing which has encouraged the contributors to engage with each other over points of similarity and difference. The result i s a book which does justice to its ‘main theme’: deciphering ‘the institutional politics of madness and the historical conditions under which asylums came to be defined as necessary to the welfare of the body politic itself.’ (p.23)
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Insanity, institutions and society, 1800–1914: a social history of madness in comparative perspective
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