Customer Reviews
History On the Dark Side - By: M. A. Adams, 17 Oct 2008 
After enjoying the authors last outing "Necropolis", I was really looking forward to this book. I am glad to report that this book is even better than the last.
Ms Arnold takes us through a white-knuckle ride of the history of both the institution of Bedlam & the treatment of the mentally ill. No punches are pulledin the gruesome descriptions of the plight of the poor patients.
The book covers a lot of ground & it would have been easy for the writing to get bogged downin a single place but the skill of the author keeps it tripping along making it a very pleasing read overall. Whilst not being overly detailed, this book is a fascinating glimpse into an often ignored subject.
The only negative point I can find is that I would have liked a few more illustrations.
Not as good as I thought it might be - By: happyreviewer, 10 Oct 2008 
This book's downfall, I think, is its huge ambition. From 1247 to the present falls within its remit. I think for such a slim volume that is asking too much. The result is a mind-boggling cast of characters who have no sooner been introduced & allotted their fifteen seconds of fame than they are tossed aside to make way for the next person. It just becomes a little confusing.
I think there should have been more illustrations, too. Speaking of illustrations,in the maps provided why isn't Bethlem circled orin some other way indicated? I scoured themin my search & am not sure if I pinned it down.
The chronology progresses generally speaking as one would expectin a work of history (i.e. from the beginning to the end) but it also has the irritating habit of quite regularly leaping forwards & backwards centuries at a time. This is because Arnold struggles to contain the narrative either within a straightforward chronological order or when she digresses into self-contained related topics & the biographies of the various doctors & patients. The narrative needs to reconcile the different strands more satisfactorily.
However, having started off with some negative points I will admit that this is an interesting story, albeit probably despite the author's efforts rather than because of them. I never really felt that there was a common thread running through this book tying everything together. It felt disjointed. I also struggled to understand many parts of the book initially because of the author letting the people she writes about tell the storyin their own words. It's often not easy to understand the historical dialects & peculiarities of writing & a translation isn't always provided.
This is a good book to read, though, if you have any experience of the mental health system yourself. I imagine. I think that to be told that only the thoughtful & the sensitive succumb to madness & that insanity has no respect for wealth or social status, afflicting rich & poor & high & low alike, is quite reassuring. Also, to be reminded that mental health problems are as old as humanity itself (or since 1247, at any rate) is pleasing & comforting too. Relief at livingin this century is another emotion brought on my reading this.
Also, I was troubled by the amount of poetry quotedin this book. A fine example is the truly awful doggerel by John Keats that concludes the whole book. "Ode on Melancholy" is just abysmal. Is it supposed to be ironic? I tend not to like authors, especially historians, who indulge their enthusiasm for literature, & especially poetry,in their books. I think it is distracting & frustrating to repeatedly come across a block of meaningless (it's mostly only semi-fathomable & lacking literal meaning) versein a non-fiction book & to necessarily feel obliged to stop to begin the arduous task of teasing out from it some sense.
It breaks up the flow & invariably makes one feel a failure for struggling with it. I didn't pick up a history (or history of medicine) book to read & critique poetry & I resent the fact that I am expected to do this. I've noticed that quite a few scientists & historians do this. I think authors should exercise some self-control & restraintin not being tempted to try to convert their readers to one of their pet hobbies or enthusiasms.
But, rant aside, & to draw this review to a close with indecent haste, I would still say this book is worth a look.
