A social history of madness

by Roy Sydney Porter

In "A social history of madness", the historian Roy Porter examines the autobiographical writings of the clinically insane--and for the first time, examines them from the point of view of the mad themselves. How do the mad perceive the world they live in, the doctors who treat (or don't treat) them, or their own supposed insanity? What can the ordeal of insanity tell us about the human experience, and about the very foundation of our society?