Damnation Island : poor, sick, mad & criminal in 19th-century New York

Resource Information

The work Damnation Island : poor, sick, mad & criminal in 19th-century New York represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Portland Public Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Damnation Island : poor, sick, mad & criminal in 19th-century New York

Title remainder

poor, sick, mad & criminal in 19th-century New York

Statement of responsibility

Stacy Horn

Creator

• Horn, Stacy

Author

• Horn, Stacy

Subject

• French, William Glenney, 1814-1895
• History
• History
• History, 19th Century
• Hospitals, Psychiatric -- history
• LAW -- Mental Health
• MEDICAL -- Mental Health
• Maladies mentales -- Traitement -- New York (État) | New York -- 19e siècle -- Histoire
• Mental illness -- New York (N.Y.) -- Treatment
• Mental illness -- Treatment
• Mental illness -- Treatment -- New York (State) | New York -- 19th century -- History
• Mentally Ill Persons -- history
• Médecine -- Histoire -- 19e siècle
• 1800-1899
• New York (State) -- New York | Roosevelt Island
• New York City
• Nonfiction
• POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Public Policy | Social Services & Welfare
• Prisons -- history
• Psychiatric hospitals
• Psychiatric hospitals -- New York (N.Y.) -- History
• Psychiatric hospitals -- New York (State) | New York -- 19th century -- History
• Roosevelt Island (New York, N.Y.) -- 19th century -- History
• Roosevelt Island (New York, N.Y.) -- 19th century -- History
• Socioeconomic Factors -- history
• New York (State) -- New York
• French, William Glenney, 1814-1895

Genre

• Nonfiction
• History

Language

eng

Summary

• "On a two-mile stretch of land in New York's East River, a 19th-century horror story was unfolding ... Today we call it Roosevelt Island. Then, it was Blackwell's, site of a lunatic asylum, two prisons, an almshouse, and a number of hospitals. Conceived as the most modern, humane incarceration facility the world had ever seen, Blackwell's Island quickly became, in the words of a visiting Charles Dickens, 'a lounging, listless madhouse.' In the first contemporary investigative account of Blackwell's, Stacy Horn tells this chilling narrative through the gripping voices of the island's inhabitants, as well as the period's officials, reformers, and journalists, including the celebrated Nellie Bly. Digging through city records, newspaper articles, and archival reports, Horn brings this forgotten history alive: there was terrible overcrowding; prisoners were enlisted to care for the insane; punishment was harsh and unfair; and treatment was nonexistent. Throughout the book, we return to the extraordinary Reverend William Glenney French as he ministers to Blackwell's residents, battles the bureaucratic mazes of the Department of Correction and a corrupt City Hall, testifies at salacious trials, and in his diary wonders about man's inhumanity to man. In Damnation Island, Stacy Horn shows us how far we've come in caring for the least fortunate among us--and reminds us how much work still remains."--Jacket
• Roosevelt Island is a two-mile stretch of land in New York's East River. In the past, it was Blackwell's Island: site of a lunatic asylum, two prisons, an almshouse, and a number of hospitals. Conceived as the most modern, humane incarceration facility it became, in the words of a visiting Charles Dickens, 'a lounging, listless madhouse.' Through the gripping voices of the island's inhabitants, as well as the period's officials, reformers, and journalists, Horn brings its forgotten history to life. In doing so, she shows us how far we've come in caring for the least fortunate among us-- and reminds us how much work still remains. -- adapted from jacket

Biography type

contains biographical information

Cataloging source

CoCr/DLC

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

no index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography