If you ever wondered about Blackwell Island off of New York City, this is the book for you.
Over a hundred years, this island housed the insane, indigent, sick, and criminal (although this was often a word used loosely). The book takes you walking through the different institutional buildings created there in the 1800s. Through the eyes of its inhabitants, both those who worked there and those who were incarcerated there, this novel takes you on a tour of the island and through the lives of the poor, criminal, and mentally ill and how they were treated.
While things have changed in institutional buildings, I am not sure they have changed that much after reading this book.
After reading this book, I wanted more information and details about the island and the people who were sent there. The treatment of those who were sent there, even just to heal or get better in a hospital, was so appalling that it made me think of medicine and doctor care today. There are a lot of equivalents to how some people are treated when they go to or try to go to a doctor today, especially those of a lower class.
The book helped me learn more about humanity and the history of care and made me realize I am still on the right track with my zombie series. We shouldn’t fear the monsters that are out there, we should fear the human monsters all around us.
"Enthralling; it is well worth the trip." --New York Journal of Books Conceived as the most modern, humane incarceration facility the world had ever seen, New York's Blackwell's Island, site of a lunatic asylum, two prisons, an almshouse, and a number of hospitals, quickly became, in the words of a visiting Charles Dickens, "a lounging, listless madhouse." Digging through city records, newspaper articles, and archival reports, Stacy Horn tells a gripping narrative through the voices of the island's inhabitants. We also hear from the era's officials, reformers, and journalists, including the celebrated undercover reporter Nellie Bly. And we follow the…
I loved this book because I love the history of bad things. This book follows Dr. Harvey Wiley as he tries to figure out how to make food safe in the United States.
Did you know that the food process in the United States was behind almost every other country? Europe banned foods and food dyes that we still eat here.
I thought this book was informative, and I enjoyed how it led me to think about what I eat and what a zombie might eat if it decided it wanted to be healthy. I mean, are there zombies that are vegetarians or who only eat certain types of people?
The inspiration for PBS's AMERICAN EXPERIENCE film The Poison Squad.
From Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times-bestselling author Deborah Blum, the dramatic true story of how food was made safe in the United States and the heroes, led by the inimitable Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, who fought for change
By the end of nineteenth century, food was dangerous. Lethal, even. "Milk" might contain formaldehyde, most often used to embalm corpses. Decaying meat was preserved with both salicylic acid, a pharmaceutical chemical, and borax, a compound first identified as a cleaning product. This was…
This book follows a family as a mother suspects something is wrong with her daughter. I really liked the dynamics and story in this book. There was a little too much animal abuse and murder for me, but I could see how it was important to the story.
The story itself, what would you do if you were afraid that your child was going to grow up to become a potential serial killer?
If a child were a serial killer, what would happen if they were alive during the zombie apocalypse?
“DO NOT MISS THIS BOOK. Authentically terrifying.” —Stephen King
Sharp as a snakebite, Sundial is a gripping novel about the secrets we bury from the ones we love most, from Catriona Ward, the author of The Last House on Needless Street.
You can't escape what's in your blood...
Rob has spent her life running from Sundial, the family’s ranch deep in the Mojave Desert, and her childhood memories.
But she’s worried about her daughter, Callie, who collects animal bones and whispers to imaginary friends. It reminds her of a darkness that runs in her family, and Rob knows it’s time…
