{"product_id":"9781541618060","title":"Mad in America","description":"A riveting social and medical history of madness in America, from the seventeenth century to today.\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eMad in America\u003c\/i\u003e, medical journalist Robert Whitaker reveals an astounding truth: Schizophrenics in the United States currently fare worse than patients in the world's poorest countries, and quite possibly worse than asylum patients did in the early nineteenth century. With a muckraker's passion, Whitaker argues that modern treatments for the severely mentally ill are just old medicine in new bottles, and that we as a society are deeply deluded about their efficacy. Tracing over three centuries of \"cures\" for madness, Whitaker shows how medical therapies have been used to silence patients and dull their minds. He tells of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century practices of \"spinning\" the insane, extracting their teeth, ovaries, and intestines, and submerging patients in freezing water. The \"cures\" in the 1920s and 1930s were no less barbaric as eugenic attitudes toward the mentally ill led to brain-damaging lobotomies and electroshock therapy. Perhaps Whitaker's most damning revelation, however, is his report of how drug companies in the 1980s and 1990s skewed their studies in an effort to prove the effectiveness of their products. Based on exhaustive research culled from old patient medical records, historical accounts, numerous interviews, and hundreds of government documents, \u003ci\u003eMad in America\u003c\/i\u003e raises important questions about our obligations to the mad, what it means to be \"insane,\" and what we value most about the human mind. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor Biography: Robert Whitaker's articles on the mentally ill and the drug industry have won several awards, including the George Polk Award for Medical Writing and the National Association of Science Writers' award for best magazine article. A series he co-wrote for the \u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1998. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Hachette Book Group USA","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47030518612208,"sku":"9781541618060","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781541618060_p0.jpg?v=1772805598","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781541618060","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}