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Dr. Neaman, whose field is American, English, and Medieval literature, describes her book as “this conversation across the gulf of eight centuries.” Actually, she covers twenty-seven centuries of attitudes toward insanity, touching even on Hippocratic Greece, in the space of 191 pages of text. It is a rich and frustrating
book. Rich because Neaman explores in it, not so much as the title suggests, the nature of insanity in the world, but rather the changing and not so changing attitudes, beliefs, and behavior over the course of these centuries toward those regarded as insane (insane variously meaning unhealthy, irrational, or sinful). The book is frustrating in that while the main concentration is on medieval times, Dr. Neaman covers too much territory, sweeping about with jet-age rapidity. In the space of one page, for instance, the author may refer to “medieval men,” “men of the twentieth century,” and a couple from the Old Testament.
The author, who functions as a historian of the insane, covers the literature of medicine, law, religion, and philosophy, as well as of biography, fiction, and folk sayings. In the midst of this herculean task, her coverage of ancient and modern medical aspects of insanity are reportorial and in some instances limited by being taken out of a broader medical background. The author is at her best when she focuses on the literary contributions of medieval times and is excellent also in her grasp and coverage of medieval and modern legalities concerning those adjudged insane or “not in their right mind.” One surfaces from Dr. Neaman's book as from a dizzying journey but with a breadth of vision concerning the social experiences of the insane.
What I found as the particular contribution of Dr. Neaman's work was her historical awareness that an inquiry into the nature of insanity or into the conditions of those declared as insane did not exist in earlier centuries. It did begin later, and Dr. Neaman's historical reflections further that in