Voice for the Mad: The Life of Dorothea Dix

Rating:
Summary: Too cerebral and passionless...
Review: Gollaher paints a very dull picture of Dorothea Dix. There is not one colorful insight into this fascinating, world-changing woman. If there was even a hint of love or respect, or even curiosity about his subject, the author never reaveals it. There is an inexcusable failure on the author's part to make this famous lady 'touchable'. He discredits her faith with one stroke of his pen and rambles about the more cerebral parts of her life and work. Yes, she was interested in other things besides helping people but I don't care to know about how many bugs she collected and how many famous persons she socialized with. I want to know about Dorothea Dix! This was one of the most discursive, spiritless biographies I have read in many years. Read another biographer's account of this amazing woman, perhaps one that is written by a woman.

Rating:
Summary: A Gem of a Biography
Review: I bought this book after reading the following award citation it received from the Organization of American Historians: "VOICE FOR THE MAD provides more than a fine analysis of how and why a key northern antebellum reformer came to her reform, more than a well-written, sophisticated account of how a well-traveled reformer sought progress in Europe and the Americas, more than an illuminating account of how and why Americans created asylums for the insane. Gollaher's study also throws important light on how a woman outside the home could be an important lobbyist inside antebellum male legislatures; on how and why antebellum religion generated a white-hot reformist passion; on how and why reformist passion often stopped short, as in Dix's case, of anti-slavery; and perhaps most astonishingly, on how and why the Yankee woman as a reforming fanatic could succeed in Southern legislatures...[A] gem of a biography." Amazingly, the book is even better than this, because it reveals how a person was able to use her own demons -- her anger, her feelings of abandonment, her incredible nervous energy -- as sources of strength in the public arena of politics.

Rating:
Summary: The Best of the Best
Review: I have read many biographies of Dorothea Dix, and this one is the best of the best! She was a fascinating woman of her age. Devotedly religious, she found a life similiar in many respects to Mother Teresa of our age - although Miss Dix was much more effective using legislation as a tool in her relief work. Her work with the mentally ill has been studied by many professionals in the field. David Gollaher brings all the available historical documents together in an easy-to-read format for the general public. I hope this book will be rereleased for a new generation of students, social workers, nurses and doctors. Highly recommended for any public or private library.