NewYorkTimesBestsellerAmazonEditor’sPickforBestBooksInthetraditionofTheImmortalLifeofHenriettaLacks,apage-turning93-yearhistoryofCrownsvilleHospital,oneofthenation’slastsegregatedasylums,thattheNewYorkTimesdescribedas“fascinating...meticulousresearch“andbestsellingauthorClintSmithendorseditas“abookthatleftmebreathless.“OnacolddayinMarchof1911,officialsmarchedtwelveBlackmenintotheheartofaforestinMaryland.Underthesupervisionofadoctor,themenwereforcedtocleartheland,pourcement,laybricks,andharvesttobacco.Whenconstructionfinished,theybecamethefirsttwelvepatientsofthestate’sHospitalfortheNegroInsane.Forcenturies,Blackpatientshavebeenabsentfromourhistorybooks.MadnesstransportsreadersbehindthebrickwallsofaJimCrowasylum.InMadness,PeabodyandEmmyaward-winningjournalistAntoniaHyltontellsthe93-year-oldhistoryofCrownsvilleHospital,oneofthelastsegregatedasylumswithsurvivingrecordsandacampusthatstillstandstothisdayinAnneArundelCounty,Maryland.SheblendstheintimatetalesofpatientsandemployeeswhoseliveswereshapedbyCrownsvillewithadecade-worthofinvestigativeresearchandarchivaldocuments.MadnesschroniclesthestoriesofBlackfamilieswhosementalhealthsufferedastheytried,andsometimesfailed,tofindsafetyanddignity.Hyltonalsograppleswithherownfamily’sexperienceswithmentalillness,andthesecrecyandshamethatitreproducedforgenerations.AsCrownsvilleHospitalgrewfromanantebellum-styleworkcamptoatinycitysittingon1,500acres,theinstitutionbecameamicrocosmofAmerica’sevolvingbattlesoverslavery,racialintegration,andcivilrights.Duringitspeakyears,thehospital’swardswereoverflowingwithalmost2,700patients.Bytheendofthe20th-century,theasylumfadedfromviewasprisonsandjailsbecameAmerica’snewfocus.InMadness,HyltontracesthelegacyofslaverytothetreatmentofBlackpeople’sbodiesandmindsinourcurrentmentalhealthcaresystem.ItisacaptivatingandheartbreakingmeditationonhowAmericadecideswhoissickorcriminal,andwhoisworthyofourcareorirredeemable.
