Far more than a history of mental illness, this book is a tremendous work of psychotherapy.

How should we define madness and normalcy? It took no less than two centuries to try and draw a line between the two. Psychiatrist and psychotherapist Jacques-Antoine Malarewicz has a gift for illuminating this little-known corner of history. Western civilization had to go from the soul to the mind to the psyche, distancing itself from religious terrain and embracing medicine. It took a few obstinate doctors who acted as spokespeople for their patients.