Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York
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- Synopsis
- "Enthralling; it is well worth the trip.&” --New York Journal of Books Conceived as the most modern, humane incarceration facility the world had ever seen, New York&’s Blackwell&’s Island, site of a lunatic asylum, two prisons, an almshouse, and a number of hospitals, quickly became, in the words of a visiting Charles Dickens, "a lounging, listless madhouse." Digging through city records, newspaper articles, and archival reports, Stacy Horn tells a gripping narrative through the voices of the island&’s inhabitants. We also hear from the era&’s officials, reformers, and journalists, including the celebrated undercover reporter Nellie Bly. And we follow 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 his fellow man. Damnation Island shows how far we&’ve come in caring for the least fortunate among us—and reminds us how much work still remains.
- Copyright:
- 2005
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Publisher Quality
- Book Size:
- 320 Pages
- ISBN-13:
- 9781616208288
- Related ISBNs:
- 9781616205768, 9781616209353
- Publisher:
- Algonquin Books
- Date of Addition:
- 07/08/22
- Copyrighted By:
- Fanny Crawford, Douglass Barnes Crawford, Miriam I. Wexner Crawford
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- History, Nonfiction, Psychology, Medicine
- Submitted By:
- Bookshare Staff
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.