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Out of his mind
Masculinity and mental illness in Victorian Britain
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2022
About this book
Out of His Mind interrogates how Victorians made sense of the madman as both a social reality and a cultural representation. Even at the height of enthusiasm for the curative powers of nineteenth-century psychiatry, to be certified as a lunatic meant a loss of one’s freedom and in many ways one’s identify. Because men had the most power and authority in Victorian Britain, this also meant they had the most to lose. The madman was often a marginal figure, confined in private homes, hospitals, and asylums. Yet as a cultural phenomenon he loomed large, tapping into broader social anxieties about respectability, masculine self-control, and fears of degeneration. Using a wealth of case notes, press accounts, literature, medical and government reports, this text provides a rich window into public understandings and personal experiences of men’s insanity.
Author / Editor information
Amy Milne-Smith is Professor of History at Wilfrid Laurier University
Reviews
'An original contribution to our understanding of how gender, and especially masculinity, impacted the experience and representation of madness in Victorian Britain.'
Katie Barclay, The American Historical Review
'Out of His Mind evidences a cultural fascination with madmen that tapped into anxieties about men who deviated from respectable models of Victorian masculinity. This book convincingly shows that madness operated as normative masculinity's foil.'
Journal of British Studies
'Out of His Mind builds upon and strengthens work already done in the history of science to destabilise gendered notions of scientific and medical authority.'
Heather Ellis, Women's History Review
'Amy Milne-Smith makes an important contribution to historical understandings of the multi-dimensional interactions between gender and mental health, encompassing the medical, social, attitudinal and cultural.'
Leonard Smith, Cultural and Social History
'Out of His Mind contributes to the recent, growing scholarship on the history of disability and mental health... Milne-Smith’s range of sources make this work a compelling read.'
H-Disability
Katie Barclay, The American Historical Review
'Out of His Mind evidences a cultural fascination with madmen that tapped into anxieties about men who deviated from respectable models of Victorian masculinity. This book convincingly shows that madness operated as normative masculinity's foil.'
Journal of British Studies
'Out of His Mind builds upon and strengthens work already done in the history of science to destabilise gendered notions of scientific and medical authority.'
Heather Ellis, Women's History Review
'Amy Milne-Smith makes an important contribution to historical understandings of the multi-dimensional interactions between gender and mental health, encompassing the medical, social, attitudinal and cultural.'
Leonard Smith, Cultural and Social History
'Out of His Mind contributes to the recent, growing scholarship on the history of disability and mental health... Milne-Smith’s range of sources make this work a compelling read.'
H-Disability
Topics
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Front Matter
i -
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Contents
v -
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List of figures
vi -
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A note on the text
viii -
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Acknowledgements
x -
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Introduction
1 -
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1 Men in care
21 -
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2 Men in the community
59 -
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3 Personal shame
98 -
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4 Madmen out of the attic
140 -
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5 Media panics
183 -
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6 Degeneration and madness
221 -
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Epilogue
263 -
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Bibliography
270 -
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Index
303
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
September 6, 2023
eBook ISBN:
9781526155054
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9781526155054
Keywords for this book
mental health; madness; wrongful confinement; degeneration; asylums; family care; media panic; manhood; sexuality; family secrets; homosexuality; Victorian Britain
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
