Undertaker of the Mind: John Monro and Mad-Doctoring in Eighteenth-Century England (Medicine and Society)

Rating:
Summary: Mad-doctoring Monro
Review: Monro's life and career have been satisfactorily documented, however this book attempts to bring forward more detail and evermore facts, and as such is a worthy treatise. In our day of analysts and a theory for everything, it is almost impossible to understand that in the eighteenth century one might be forever locked away for such diagnoses as truculance and intractability. Besides the awful Bedlam most associated with this era, there were also private, rather more poshy institutes that catered to the rich and the famous, to which Monro also applied his 'mad-doctoring' skills. By means of his profession, Monro was privvy to the social world, and made acquaintance with the aristocracy and assorted politicians, would-bes, also-rans, and dignitaries. The authors utilise a huge base of extant materials to draw this portrait of a fascinating time in medical history. Especially noteworthy are the exceptional mentioned drawings, which alone are worth the price of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Mad-doctoring Monro
Review: Monro's life and career have been satisfactorily documented, however this book attempts to bring forward more detail and evermore facts, and as such is a worthy treatise. In our day of analysts and a theory for everything, it is almost impossible to understand that in the eighteenth century one might be forever locked away for such diagnoses as truculance and intractability. Besides the awful Bedlam most associated with this era, there were also private, rather more poshy institutes that catered to the rich and the famous, to which Monro also applied his 'mad-doctoring' skills. By means of his profession, Monro was privvy to the social world, and made acquaintance with the aristocracy and assorted politicians, would-bes, also-rans, and dignitaries. The authors utilise a huge base of extant materials to draw this portrait of a fascinating time in medical history. Especially noteworthy are the exceptional mentioned drawings, which alone are worth the price of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Wall Street Journal Review
Review: See the review of this book in the Wall Street Journal, Thursday, January 30, 2003.