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Undertaker of the Mind: John Monro and Mad-Doctoring in Eighteenth-Century England (Medicine and Society)
by Jonathan Andrews, Andrew Scull
Product Group: Book
Publisher: University of California Press (2001-11-05)
ISBN: 0520231511
EAN: 9780520231511
Dewy Decimal #: 616.890092
Hardcover: 389 pages
SKU: 28549
Condition: New
Comments: THE HARDBACK BOOK! UNIV. OF CA, 2001. THE UNABRIDGED 1ST EDITION. WITH TERRIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS AND PHOTOGRAPHS! HARDCOVER W/GILT LETTERING, DUST JACKET AND PAGES ARE BRAND NEW! SHIPS RAPIDLY w/FREE TRACKING. GREAT PACKAGING. Air Mail.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
As visiting physician to Bethlem Hospital, the archetypal "Bedlam" and Britain's first and (for hundreds of years) only public institution for the insane, Dr. John Monro (1715Ð1791) was a celebrity in his own day. Jonathan Andrews and Andrew Scull call him a "connoisseur of insanity, this high priest of the trade in lunacy." Although the basics of his life and career are well known, this study is the first to explore in depth Monro's colorful and contentious milieu. Mad-doctoring grew into a recognized, if not entirely respectable, profession during the eighteenth century, and besides being affiliated with public hospitals, Monro and other mad-doctors became entrepreneurs and owners of private madhouses and were consulted by the rich and famous. Monro's close social connections with members of the aristocracy and gentry, as well as with medical professionals, politicians, and divines, guaranteed him a significant place in the social, political, cultural, and intellectual worlds of his time. Andrews and Scull draw on an astonishing array of visual materials and verbal sources that include the diaries, family papers, and correspondence of some of England's wealthiest and best-connected citizens. The book is also distinctive in the coverage it affords to individual case histories of Monro's patients, including such prominent contemporary figures as the Earls Ferrers and Orford, the religious "enthusiast" Alexander Cruden, and the "mad" King George III, as well as his crazy would-be assassin, Margaret Nicholson. What the authors make clear is that Monro, a serious physician neither reactionary nor enlightened in his methods, was the outright epitome of the mad- trade as it existed then, esteemed in some quarters and ridiculed in others. The fifty illustrations, expertly annotated and integrated with the text, will be a revelation to many readers.
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Customer Reviews
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Very Well Done!
Rating  (4)
Date: 2005-05-19
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Though it starts off slow, by Chapter 2 the enthralling story of John Monroe, one of several Monroes to be primary physician at Bethlem hospital in London, England, begins to unfold. This man spent four decades in his position at "Bedlam" which is likely why he is the one to be featured - as opposed to his father James, who held the position before him and his son Thomas, who came afterwards.
Though I was aware that John Monroe has somewhat of a bad reputation in our day and age, largely because of his work in mad-doctoring and that Bethlem hospital is associated with great horror and scandal.. I didn't reach that conclusion from this book. There was evidence of mistreatment and false confinement and a lack of much help beyond custodial-type care - it seemed more a symptom of the ages rather then an intentional practice.
It was obvious, however, that a motivating factor for people to become engaged in the business of lunacy by owning and operating madhouses (often without any credentials or experience) and catering to those pronounced mad was the profit to made from such. Though mad-doctors, it is said, were not well respected in the 17-18-19th centuries, John Monroe and others seemed to have reached quite a great height in their social status.
What I found most fascinating was the many stories of those deemed mad - most especially the story of "Mad Meg" near the end of the book. Along with these stories there is a great deal of pictures in the book with excellent descriptions by the authors. It is very clear from reading that the two authors know their subject well and have done a great deal of research. I was familiar with Skull's work prior to this reading but had not had the pleasure of reading Andrews. Both authors have several other titles on the subject that I have since picked up and look forward to reading.
The book ends abruptly with the death of John Monroe. I would have liked to hear about what happened with Thomas Monroe when he took over "the business" much like we were able to read about James Monroe's work. But, the book is about John Monroe so I suppose it makes sense to concentrate largely on his work and I believe the others are likely written about in greater detail in the other books available by these authors.
The book was a joy to read, I think you will enjoy it!
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Mad-doctoring Monro
Rating  (5)
Date: 2004-06-22
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Monro's life and career have been satisfactorily documented, however this book attempts to bring forward more detail and evermore facts, and as such is a worthy treatise. In our day of analysts and a theory for everything, it is almost impossible to understand that in the eighteenth century one might be forever locked away for such diagnoses as truculance and intractability. Besides the awful Bedlam most associated with this era, there were also private, rather more poshy institutes that catered to the rich and the famous, to which Monro also applied his 'mad-doctoring' skills. By means of his profession, Monro was privvy to the social world, and made acquaintance with the aristocracy and assorted politicians, would-bes, also-rans, and dignitaries. The authors utilise a huge base of extant materials to draw this portrait of a fascinating time in medical history. Especially noteworthy are the exceptional mentioned drawings, which alone are worth the price of the book.
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Wall Street Journal Review
Rating (5)
Date: 2003-02-07
1 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
See the review of this book in the Wall Street Journal, Thursday, January 30, 2003.
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