Bedlam - Hardcover

Arnold, Catharine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1847370004 ISBN 13: 9781847370006

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2008

Synopsis

'Bedlam!' The very name conjures up graphic images of naked patients chained among filthy straw, or parading untended wards deluded that they are Napoleon or Jesus Christ. We owe this image of madness to William Hogarth, who, in plate eight of his 1735 Rake's Progress series, depicts the anti-hero in Bedlam, the latest addition to a freak show providing entertainment for Londoners between trips to the Tower Zoo, puppet shows and public executions.

That this is still the most powerful image of Bedlam, over two centuries later, says much about our attitude to mental illness, although the Bedlam of the popular imagination is long gone. The hospital was relocated to the suburbs of Kent in 1930, and Sydney Smirke's impressive Victorian building in Southwark took on a new role as the Imperial War Museum.

Following the historical narrative structure of her acclaimed Necropolis, BEDLAMwill examine the capital's treatment of the insane over the centuries, from the founding of Bethlehem Hospital in 1247 through the heyday of the great Victorian asylums to the more enlightened attitudes that prevail today.

About this title

About the Author:

Catharine Arnold read English at Cambridge and holds a further degree in psychology. A journalist, academic and popular historian, her previous books include the novel Lost Time, winner of a Betty Trask award, and the acclaimed Necropolis: London and Its Dead, Bedlam and City ofSin, the first three volumes of her 'London' series. She lives in Nottingham.

Review:

"Elegantly written and richly anecdotal."  —Daily Mail

"What a dark undertow tugs away at the reader's imagination in this smoothly written, densely researched book."  —Sunday Express

"A finely written, thoroughly researched and humane book, packed with moving stories."  —Independent

"Everything you always wanted to know about perishing in London."  —Kirkus Reviews on Necropolis

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1847370004
• ISBN 13: 9781847370006
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320