Damnation Island - BookWyrm

Paperback, 320 pages

Published May 14, 2019 by Algonquin Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-61620-935-3

(2 reviews)

"On a two-mile stretch of land in New York's East River, a 19th-century horror story was unfolding ... Today we call it Roosevelt Island. Then, it was Blackwell's, site of a lunatic asylum, two prisons, an almshouse, and a number of hospitals. Conceived as the most modern, humane incarceration facility the world had ever seen, Blackwell's Island quickly became, in the words of a visiting Charles Dickens, 'a lounging, listless madhouse.' In the first contemporary investigative account of Blackwell's, Stacy Horn tells this chilling narrative through the gripping voices of the island's inhabitants, as well as the period's officials, reformers, and journalists, including the celebrated Nellie Bly. Digging through city records, newspaper articles, and archival reports, Horn brings this forgotten history alive: there was terrible overcrowding; prisoners were enlisted to care for the insane; punishment was harsh and unfair; and treatment was nonexistent. Throughout the book, we return to the …

"On a two-mile stretch of land in New York's East River, a 19th-century horror story was unfolding ... Today we call it Roosevelt Island. Then, it was Blackwell's, site of a lunatic asylum, two prisons, an almshouse, and a number of hospitals. Conceived as the most modern, humane incarceration facility the world had ever seen, Blackwell's Island quickly became, in the words of a visiting Charles Dickens, 'a lounging, listless madhouse.' In the first contemporary investigative account of Blackwell's, Stacy Horn tells this chilling narrative through the gripping voices of the island's inhabitants, as well as the period's officials, reformers, and journalists, including the celebrated Nellie Bly. Digging through city records, newspaper articles, and archival reports, Horn brings this forgotten history alive: there was terrible overcrowding; prisoners were enlisted to care for the insane; punishment was harsh and unfair; and treatment was nonexistent. Throughout the book, we return to 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 man. In Damnation Island, Stacy Horn shows us how far we've come in caring for the least fortunate among us--and reminds us how much work still remains."--Dust jacket.

4 editions

Cheri reviewed Damnation Island by Stacy Horn

Review of 'Damnation Island' on 'Storygraph'

2 stars

I actually hated this book but it was certainly well-researched and informative - which is why I went with two stars instead of one. There was so much of the same sort of abuse and misery described that, after a short while, it all ran together and the individual cases meant nothing to me - it was all the same horrible and disgusting treatment.

If the point of the book was to discuss on the atrocities inflicted upon those unfortunate enough to be sent to any of the work houses, alms houses, or asylums of the time, it did that ad nauseam. It felt like I was reading misery porn. It was honestly just too much of the same thing over and over and over and over.

If you're looking for something to give you a feel for what life in an asylum was like in a short, emotionally manageable …

I actually hated this book but it was certainly well-researched and informative - which is why I went with two stars instead of one. There was so much of the same sort of abuse and misery described that, after a short while, it all ran together and the individual cases meant nothing to me - it was all the same horrible and disgusting treatment.

If the point of the book was to discuss on the atrocities inflicted upon those unfortunate enough to be sent to any of the work houses, alms houses, or asylums of the time, it did that ad nauseam. It felt like I was reading misery porn. It was honestly just too much of the same thing over and over and over and over.

If you're looking for something to give you a feel for what life in an asylum was like in a short, emotionally manageable dose, I highly recommend Ten Days in a Mad-House by Nellie Bly. I took a break from Damnation Island and listened to Bly's book and feel like I got a lot more out of the small book than I did from nearly 10 hours of this one.

acaleyn

rated it

May 11, 2019