{"product_id":"the-last-asylum-a-memoir-of-madness-in-our-times-9780226273921","title":"The Last Asylum: A Memoir of Madness in Our Times","description":"In the late 1970s, Barbara Taylor, then an acclaimed young historian, began to suffer from severe anxiety. In the years that followed, Taylor's world contracted around her illness. Eventually, her struggles were severe enough to lead to her admission to what had once been England's largest psychiatric institution, the infamous Friern Mental Hospital in North London. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Last Asylum\u003c\/i\u003e is Taylor's breathtakingly blunt and brave account of those years. In it, Taylor draws not only on her experience as a historian, but also, more importantly, on her own lived history at Friern-- once known as the Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum and today the site of a luxury apartment complex. Taylor was admitted to Friern in July 1988, not long before England's asylum system began to undergo dramatic change: in a development that was mirrored in America, the 1990s saw the old asylums shuttered, their patients left to plot courses through a perpetually overcrowded and underfunded system of community care. But Taylor contends that the emptying of the asylums also marked a bigger loss, a loss of community. She credits her own recovery to the help of a steadfast psychoanalyst and a loyal circle of friends-- from Magda, Taylor's manic-depressive roommate, to Fiona, who shares tips for navigating the system and stories of her boyfriend, the \"Spaceman,\" and his regular journeys to Saturn. The forging of that network of support and trust was crucial to Taylor's recovery, offering a respite from the \"stranded, homeless feelings\" she and others found in the outside world. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e A vivid picture of mental health treatment at a moment of epochal change, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Asylum\u003c\/i\u003e is also a moving meditation on Taylor's own experience, as well as that of millions of others who struggle with mental illness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-4751101\"\u003eBarbara Taylor\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/15\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.82lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.27h x 6.39w x 0.66d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226273921\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 022627392X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-PSY\"\u003ePsychology\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-PSY022000\"\u003ePsychopathology | General\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-HIS\"\u003eHistory\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-HIS015000\"\u003eEurope | Great Britain | General\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-PSY\"\u003ePsychology\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-PSY015000\"\u003eHistory\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBarbara Taylor\u003c\/b\u003e is professor of humanities at Queen Mary University of London. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eEve and the New Jerusalem, \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eMary Wollstonecraft and the Feminist Imagination, \u003c\/i\u003eand, with Adam Phillips, \u003ci\u003eOn Kindness.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43100708110573,"sku":"9780226273921","price":38.33,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/8097\/6621\/products\/img_4fae1cbf-5ef9-4b83-b965-d0925c4fd1e8.jpg?v=1660021690","url":"https:\/\/sureshotbooks.com\/products\/the-last-asylum-a-memoir-of-madness-in-our-times-9780226273921","provider":"SureShot Books Publishing LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}