Madness

Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum

By: Antonia Hylton

Narrated by: Antonia Hylton

In the tradition of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, this New York Times bestseller is a page-turning account of one of the nation’s last segregated asylums..."a book that left me breathless" (Clint Smith).

For centuries, Black patients have been absent from our history books. Madness transports readers through the ninety-three-year history of Crownsville Hospital, one of the last segregated asylums with surviving records and a campus that still stands to this day in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Antonia Hylton blends the intimate tales of patients and employees whose lives were shaped by Crownsville with a decade-worth of investigative research and archival documents. Madness chronicles the stories of Black families whose mental health suffered as they tried, and sometimes failed, to find safety and dignity. Hylton also grapples with her own family’s experiences with mental illness, and the secrecy and shame that it reproduced for generations.

As Crownsville Hospital grew from an antebellum-style work camp to a tiny city sitting on 1,500 acres, the institution became a microcosm of America’s evolving battles over slavery, racial integration, and civil rights. Hylton traces the legacy of slavery to the treatment of Black people’s bodies and minds in our current mental healthcare system. It is a captivating and heartbreaking meditation on how America decides who is sick or criminal, and who is worthy of our care or irredeemable.

Should Be Required Reading

I read this for personal learning reasons. I love history and I’m a counselor. Every school counselor school psych school social worker foster care worker and administrator should read this for context. Yes this is a book focused largely on history, But understand that this book is a VERY clear depiction of what has happened in this country to people of color with (or without!) mental health needs, especially children. It is a snippet of what has happened. The beliefs and effects of this do not magically disappear with legislation. The writing, research, organization, and performance make this a five star listen. It does not “read” like a history book. Hylton is a talented historian and writer. This book makes me very proud to be a Black woman in mental health care. The dedication to writing this is UN.MATCHED. Thank you so much for writing this. Thank you thank you thank you

Powerful interlacing of a history of mental health and the social context…

…in which mental health care was presented. As a Marylander living 20 minutes from Crownsville I was never aware of the legacy of those grounds. My kids have gone to the Indian Creek School for events and the juxtaposition of one side of Crownsville Road to the other side is an apt metaphor for the context in which that hospital evolved and its place in Maryland history. The story was not only poignant but it gave a human face to the people who worked and were treated at that facility.

This is must read!

I really don't even know how to describe the importance of this book. For anyone who is involved in health, mental health or the education system this is a must read.

Good book about bad times

I was very glad I picked this book to listen to. I grew up in New Jersey but went to college in SE Texas and saw Jim Crow in the early 1960s. This book was a great reminder of what discrimination can and still dies to the oppressed. I can't say I enjoyed the book but I praise the author for researching it and writing it. Also, I'm very glad I read it.

Historical impact on today

Excellent!! This book uncovers the relationship between crime, mental illness and the need for society to wake up.