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Will the Circle Be Unbroken?: Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith
by Studs TerkelStuds Terkel has turned to the ultimate human experience, that of death and the possibility of life afterward. Death is the one experience we all share but cannot know. In Studs Terkel's powerful new book, Will the Circle Be Unbroken? a wide range of people address that final experience and its impact on the present in which we live. In talking about the ultimate and unknowable culmination of our lives, these people give voice to their deepest beliefs and hopes, reflecting on the lives they have led and what still lies before them. The result is a book that may well be Terkel's most popular, a universal and deeply moving account of death and religion.This is the first time Terkel addresses the whole realm of religious belief and of expectations of an afterlife, including reincarnation. Interviewing a fascinating variety of people, he is able to come up with an extraordinary range of experience and of belief, all of which prove far more complex than Terkel anticipated.In the tradition of his books Working and Coming of Age, Studs Terkel addresses an issue bound up with all of our lives, yet rarely discussed on its own terms. From a Hiroshima survivor to an AIDS caseworker, from a death row parolee to a woman who emerged from a two-year coma, these interviewees find an eloquence and grace in dealing with a topic many of us have yet to discuss openly and freely.Terkel also interviews the vast array of people who confront death in their everyday lives, whether as policemen, firemen, emergency health workers, doctors, or nurses. Many of the most moving interviews deal with AIDS, and how the disease has devastated whole communities and forced people to face death at the young ages we associate with centuries past.In a stunning capstone to his extraordinary career, Terkel introduces to us the variety of our reactions to life's ultimate experience.
Will the Circle Be Unbroken?: Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith
by Studs TerkelThe renowned oral historian interviews ordinary people about facing mortality: &“It&’s the unguarded voices he presents that stay with you.&” —The New York Times In this book, the Pulitzer Prize winner and National Book Award finalist Studs Terkel, author of the New York Times bestseller Working, turns to the ultimate human experience: death. Here a wide range of people address the unknowable culmination of our lives, the possibilities of an afterlife, and their impact on the way we live, with memorable grace and poignancy. Included in this remarkable treasury are Terkel&’s interviews with such famed figures as Kurt Vonnegut and Ira Glass as well as with ordinary people, from policemen and firefighters to emergency health workers and nurses, who confront death in their everyday lives. Whether a Hiroshima survivor, a death-row parolee, or a woman who emerged from a two-year coma, these interviewees offer tremendous eloquence as they deal with a topic many are reluctant to discuss openly and freely. Only Terkel, whom Cornel West called &“an American treasure,&” could have elicited such honesty from people reflecting on the lives they have led and what lies before them still. &“Extraordinary . . . a work of insight, wisdom, and freshness.&” —The Seattle Times
Will the Drama Ever End?: Untangling and Healing from the Harmful Effects of Parental Narcissism
by Dr. Karyl McBrideAcclaimed family therapist and author of the classic bestseller Will I Ever Be Good Enough? presents a comprehensive and actionable guide to understanding and healing from narcissistic family abuse.A pioneer on the devastating effects of narcissistic abuse, Karyl McBride, PhD, has the answer for anyone desperate for help in overcoming the damage of being raised in a family headed by a narcissistic parent. Divided into three sections, McBride explores the insidious way a narcissistic environment is developed in a family, how a narcissistic parent damages a child&’s emotional growth and ability to trust, and finally, how to not only move on but become truly free. Along with an easy-to-follow five-step recovery program, plus a 33-question quiz to determine if you or a family member is displaying narcissistic traits, McBride provides understanding and hope for anyone wishing to thrive after abuse.
Will the Drama Ever End?: Untangling and Healing from the Harmful Effects of Parental Narcissism
by Karyl McBrideHeal and find liberation from your past with this comprehensive guide to making sense of and overcoming narcissistic family abuse from acclaimed family therapist.A pioneer on the devastating effects of narcissistic abuse, Dr. Karyl McBride has the answer for anyone desperate for help in recovering from the damage of being raised in a family headed by a narcissistic parent.Divided into three sections, Dr. Karyl explores the insidious way a narcissistic environment is developed in a family, how a narcissistic parent damages a child&’s emotional growth and ability to trust and, finally, how to not only move on but become truly free.Along with an easy-to-follow five-step recovery program, plus a 33-question quiz to determine if you or a family member is displaying narcissistic traits, Dr. Karyl provides understanding and hope for anyone wishing to thrive after abuse.
Will They Do it Again?: Risk Assessment and Management in Criminal Justice and Psychiatry
by Prof Herschel Prins Herschel PrinsFocus in the media on the risks posed to ordinary people has become increasingly strong in recent years - particularly on those risks popularly perceived to be posed by the mentally ill. But how justified is this concern? How do we best manage so-called dangerous people? In Will They Do It Again? Herschel Prins considers the issue of public protection within a broad context of risk in society generally, examining the concerns arising in contemporary society from dealing with uncertainty. It is argued that public fear over the danger posed by the mentally ill is at odds with the evidence, and that much of the concern is focused on a small number of high-profile cases. Prins goes on to examine such cases where management of the mentally ill has failed and sets out suggestions for improvements in practice.Will They Do It Again? cuts through popular misunderstanding and media hype over risk to give a clear, unbiased picture of the real risks to society from the mentally ill and how best they can be contained and managed, and will prove invaluable to a range of practitioners involved in the fields of criminal justice and psychiatry.
Will This House Last Forever?: 'Heartbreaking, beautifully written' The Times
by Xanthi Barker'Completely original, raw and warm' Evening Standard Books of the Summer'Poignant... written with intelligence and tears' Ben Okri'Nuanced, absorbing and moving... extraordinary' Observer'Raw, poetic, beautifully formed' Daisy JohnsonWhen Xanthi Barker's father died when she was in her mid twenties, she could make no sense of her grief for a man who had been absent for most of her life. Her father, poet Sebastian Barker, had left Xanthi, her mother and her brother to pursue writing and a new relationship, when Xanthi was a baby. Growing up she had always struggled to reconcile his extravagant affection - a rocking horse crafted from scavenged wood, the endless stream of poems and drawings and letters, conversations that spiralled from the structure of starlight to philosophy to Bruce Springsteen - with the fact that he could not be depended upon for more everyday things. Though theirs was a relationship defined by departures, he always returned, so why should this farewell be any different, or more final?WILL THIS HOUSE LAST FOREVER? is a heartfelt and wholly original memoir about the pain of having to come to terms with a parent's mortality, the way grief so utterly defies logic, and about learning to see the flaws in those that we love, and let them go.
Will This House Last Forever?: 'Heartbreaking, beautifully written' The Times
by Xanthi Barker'It felt such a privilege to read this book. Raw, devastating, beautifully formed. Let's keep our eye on Barker.' Daisy JohnsonWhen Xanthi Barker's father died when she was in her mid twenties, she could make no sense of her grief for a man who had been absent for most of her life. Her father, poet Sebastian Barker, had left Xanthi, her mother and her brother to pursue writing and a new relationship, when Xanthi was a baby. Growing up she had always struggled to reconcile his extravagant affection - a rocking horse crafted from scavenged wood, the endless stream of poems and drawings and letters, conversations that spiralled from the structure of starlight to philosophy to Bruce Springsteen - with the fact that he could not be depended upon for more everyday things. Though theirs was a relationship defined by departures, he always returned, so why should this farewell be any different, or more final?WILL THIS HOUSE LAST FOREVER? is a heartfelt and wholly original memoir about the pain of having to come to terms with a parent's mortality, the way grief so utterly defies logic, and about learning to see the flaws in those that we love, and let them go.(P)2021 Headline Publishing Group Limited
The Will to Believe and Human Immortality
by William JamesThis volume contains the complete texts of two books by America's most important psychologist and philosopher. Easy to understand, yet brilliant and penetrating, the books were written specifically for laymen and they are still stimulating reading for readers concerned with important questions of belief in an age of science.In the essays, under the heading The Will to Believe, James discusses, first, the interrelationships of belief, will, and intellect, examining such questions as: How does man believe? How do intellectual considerations color belief? How much of a role do irrational elements play even in rigorously logical thought? Chance versus determinism, free will versus fate, pluralism versus monism are discussed in succeeding sections. James also covers psychical research, Hegelianism, and Spencer's philosophy.Human Immortality: Two Supposed Objections to the Doctrine, reprinted here from the corrected second edition, examines the questions of survival after death, and provides an unusual philosophical rebuttal to the theory that thought and personality necessarily die with the brain.
The Will to Live: An Outline of Evolutionary Psychology (Psychology Revivals)
by J.H. BadleyFirst published in 1931, the underlying assumption of The Will to Live is that of a psychological evolution in which mind is regarded not merely as developing in association with nervous and cerebral development, but as being itself the most important factor in the process. It is this assumption which gives meaning to the title that has been chosen for the book. It brings themes like is psychology a science; impulse and growth; the rise of consciousness; the three main lines of instinct; the variability of habit; development of intelligence; thought as judgment and reflection; the critical faculty; simple and complex emotions; ideals and idealization; voluntary activity; sex and conflict; and buried complexes and dreams. This is an interesting historical document for the students of psychology.
The Will to Meaning: Foundations and Applications of Logotherapy
by Viktor E. FranklHolocaust survivor Viktor E. Frankl converted the horrors he experienced in a German concentration camp into the pioneering philosophy he called logotherapy. Unlike Freud's "will to pleasure" and Adler's "will to power," Frankl based logotherapy on three things: the freedom of will, the will to meaning, and the meaning of life. By presenting three methodological concepts, Frankl shows how we can all reinvigorate our experiences and tie them to will and power. Originally published in 1988 and compiling Frankl's speeches on logotherapy, The Will to Meaning is regarded as a seminal work of behavior therapy.
Willemijn Kramers
by Nicolien Van Halem Merle KammannZorgcategorie: Kraamvrouw, pasgeborene Setting: ThuiszorgKorte inhoud: Willemijn Kramers staat als een ervaren kraamverzorgende in het middelpunt in deze casus die gaat over de familie Temmens. De vaardigheden die zij beheerst, zijn divers: huishoudelijke, lichamelijk verzorgende en begeleidende vaardigheden: Willemijn gaat het goed af.
Willenskraft und Gewohnheiten im Personal Performance Management: So bleiben Sie auf Ihre Ziele fokussiert
by Hendrik HilmerDieses Fachbuch stellt wichtige Elemente des Personal Performance Managements, der persönlichen Leistungssteuerung, vor – Willenskraft und die Macht der Gewohnheiten. Um in den verschiedensten Situationen handlungsfähig zu bleiben, ist es wichtig, nicht ausschließlich auf Motivation angewiesen zu sein. Willenskraft ist die Fähigkeit, innere (und äußere) Hindernisse zu überwinden, durchzuhalten und Ziele zu erreichen. Durch Selbststeuerung und exekutive Funktionen wird das eigene Denken, Fühlen und Handeln gezielt reguliert und kontrolliert. Die Möglichkeiten der Selbststeuerung werden vertiefend am Beispiel der Konzentration und Emotionsregulation diskutiert. Hierbei wird auch speziell auf die Bedeutung der Konzentration für das Multitasking eingegangen. Neben der bewussten und willentlichen Steuerung nutzen wir täglich viele Male deutlich unbewusstere Verhaltensweisen: Gewohnheiten. Sie sind eine denklogische Fortsetzung von Selbstkontrolle und Selbstregulation. Die Herausbildung nützlicher Routinen und die Kontrolle von ungewollten, dysfunktionalen Gewohnheiten sind wichtige Bestandteile des Personal Performance Managements.Das Buch richtet sich an alle, die Interesse an Selbstentwicklung und der persönlichen Leistungssteuerung haben, insbesondere an Fach- und Führungskräfte. Die vermittelten Inhalte geben praktische Hinweise für die persönliche Leistungssteuerung. Reflexionsfragen zu Beginn jedes Themenschwerpunktes unterstützen bei der eigenen Standortbestimmung. Der InhaltGrundlagen des Personal Performance ManagementsDas Verhältnis von Motivation und VolitionSelbstkontrolle, Selbstregulation, exekutive FunktionenSelbststeuerung am Beispiel der Konzentration und EmotionsregulationGewohnheiten, Routinen und Entscheidungen
Willful: How We Choose What We Do
by Richard RobbA revelatory alternative to the standard economic models of human behavior that proposes an exciting new way to understand decision‑making Why do we do the things we do? The classical view of economics is that we are rational individuals, making decisions with the intention of maximizing our preferences. Behaviorists, on the other hand, see us as relying on mental shortcuts and conforming to preexisting biases. Richard Robb argues that neither explanation accounts for those things that we do for their own sake, and without understanding these sorts of actions, our picture of decision‑making is at best incomplete. Robb explains how these choices made seemingly without reason belong to a realm of behavior he identifies as &“for‑itself.&” A provocative combination of philosophy and economics that offers a key to many of our quixotic choices, this groundbreaking volume provides a new way to understand everything from investing to how hard we work to how we manage daily interactions.
William James: Psychical Research and the Challenge of Modernity
by Krister Dylan KnappIn this insightful new book on the remarkable William James, the American psychologist and philosopher, Krister Dylan Knapp provides the first deeply historical and acutely analytical account of James's psychical research. While showing that James always maintained a critical stance toward claims of paranormal phenomena like spiritualism, Knapp uses new sources to argue that psychical research held a strikingly central position in James's life. It was crucial to his familial and professional relationships, the fashioning of his unique intellectual disposition, and the shaping of his core doctrines, especially the will-to-believe, empiricism, fideism, and theories of the subliminal consciousness and immortality.Knapp explains how and why James found in psychical research a way to rethink the well-trodden approaches to classic Euro-American religious thought, typified by the oppositional categories of natural vs. supernatural and normal vs. paranormal. He demonstrates how James eschewed these choices and instead developed a tertiary synthesis of them, an approach Knapp terms tertium quid, the third way. Situating James's psychical research in relation to the rise of experimental psychology and Protestantism's changing place in fin de siecle America, Knapp asserts that the third way illustrated a much broader trend in transatlantic thought as it struggled to navigate the uncertainties and religious adventurism of the modern age.
William James on Consciousness beyond the Margin
by Eugene TaylorAt the turn of the twentieth century, William James was America's most widely read philosopher. In addition to being one of the founders of pragmatism, however, he was also a leading psychologist and author of the seminal work, The Principles of Psychology (1890). While scholars argue that James withdrew from the study of psychology after 1890, Eugene Taylor demonstrates convincingly that James remained preeminently a psychologist until his death in 1910.Taylor details James's contributions to experimental psychopathology, psychical research, and the psychology of religion. Moreover, Taylor's work shows that out of his scientific study of consciousness, James formulated a sophisticated metaphysics of radical empiricism. In light of historical developments in psychology, as well as the current philosophic implications of the neuroscience revolution related to the biology of consciousness, Taylor argues that both the subject matter of James's investigations and his metaphysics of radical empiricism are just as important for psychology today as James believed they were in his own time.This book represents a major new contribution both to James scholarship and to the history of American psychology. Although philosophers have analyzed radical empiricism, this book is the first to trace the development of radical empiricism as a metaphysics addressed to psychologists. It is also the first to show James's involvement in depth-psychology and psychotherapeutics and to trace historical continuity between James's work on consciousness and subsequent developments in psychoanalysis, personality theory, and humanistic psychology.
The William James Reader
by William JamesWilliam James was the older brother of novelist Henry James, and a pioneering psychologist and philosopher. His works pushed the boundaries of psychology and helped shape the direction the field would grow in. Collected here are four of his most important books: Essays in Radical Empiricism, The Meaning of Truth, The Varieties of Religious Experience, and What is an Emotion? These books helped forge a field and remain as important today as when they were first written!
William James, Sciences of Mind, and Anti-Imperial Discourse
by Bernadette M. BakerIn the past few decades, the humanities and social sciences have developed new methods of reorienting their conceptual frameworks in a 'world without frontiers'. In this book, Bernadette M. Baker offers an innovative approach to rethinking sciences of mind as they formed at the turn of the twentieth century, via the concerns that have emerged at the turn of the twenty-first. The less-visited texts of Harvard philosopher and psychologist William James provide a window into contemporary debates over principles of toleration, anti-imperial discourse and the nature of ethics. Baker revisits Jamesian approaches to the formation of scientific objects including the child mind, exceptional mental states and the ghost to explore the possibilities and limits of social scientific thought dedicated to mind development and discipline formation around the construct of the West.
William James's Hidden Religious Imagination: A Universe of Relations (Routledge Studies in Religion)
by Jeremy CarretteThis book offers a radical new reading of William James’s work on the idea of ‘religion.’ Moving beyond previous psychological and philosophical interpretations, it uncovers a dynamic, imaginative, and critical use of the category of religion. This work argues that we can only fully understand James’s work on religion by returning to the ground of his metaphysics of relations and by incorporating literary and historical themes. Author Jeremy Carette develops original perspectives on the influence of James’s father and Calvinism, on the place of the body and sex in James, on the significance of George Eliot’s novels, and Herbert Spencer’s ‘unknown,’ revealing a social and political discourse of civil religion and republicanism and a poetic imagination at the heart of James understanding of religion. These diverse themes are brought together through a post-structural sensitivity and a recovery of the importance of the French philosopher Charles Renouvier to James’s work. This study pushes new boundaries in Jamesian scholarship by reading James with pluralism and from the French tradition. It will be a benchmark text in the reshaping of James and the nineteenth-century foundations of the modern study of ‘religion.’
William James’s Pluralism: An Antidote for Contemporary Extremism and Absolutism
by Wayne VineyWilliam James’s Pluralism: An Antidote for Contemporary Extremism and Absolutism explores extremism and the related problem of absolutism in the context of the psychology and philosophy of William James. Extremist and absolutist views were topical in James’s day, especially around the time of the Civil War, but they are no less common in these early years of the 21st century. James argued that the love of singularities such as belief in one God, one method, one political system, or one value system contributes to extremist, even violent mentalities. In this book, James’s views on singular versus pluralistic perspectives are explored and then applied to contemporary practical issues such as abortion, birth control, and death with dignity legislation. These perspectives are furthermore applied to more theoretical issues, such as causality, values, and methods or ways of investigating the world. Within William James’s Pluralism, these theories are investigated in a comprehensive philosophical and psychological examination of the human experience. Written in a nontechnical manner to appeal to the general public—just as William James hoped for his pluralistic philosophy—this book is additionally of considerable interest to academics and students across many fields such as psychology, philosophy, history, and sociology.
William Robertson Smith (Anthropology's Ancestors #2)
by Aleksandar BoškovićWilliam Robertson Smith’s influence on anthropology ranged from his relationship with John Ferguson McLennan, to advising James George Frazer to write about “Totem” and “Taboo” for the Encyclopaedia Britannica that he edited. This biography places a special emphasis on the notes and observations from his travels to Arabia, as well as on his influence on the representatives of the “Myth and Ritual School.” With his discussion of myth and ritual, Smith influenced generations of scholars, and his insistence on the connection between the people, their God, and the land they inhabited inspired many of the concepts later developed by Émile Durkheim.
Willingness to Die and the Gift of Life: Suicide and Martyrdom in the Hebrew Bible
by Paul K.-K. ChoOne particularly challenging aspect of the Hebrew Bible is its treatment of various forms of voluntary death: suicide, suicide attack, martyrdom, and self-sacrifice. How can people of faith make sense of the ways biblical literature at times valorizes these sensitive and painful topics? Willingness to Die and the Gift of Life surveys a diverse selection of Hebrew Bible narratives that feature characters who express a willingness to die, including Moses, Judah, Samson, Esther, Job, Daniel, and the &“suffering servant&” of Isaiah 53. The challenging truth uncovered is that the Hebrew Bible, while taking seriously the darker aspects of voluntary death, nevertheless time and again valorizes the willingness to die—particularly when it is for the sake of the group or in faithful commitment to God. Many biblical authors go so far as to suggest that death willingly embraced can unlock immense power: endowing the willing with the charism necessary to lead, opening the possibility of salvation, and even paving the way for resurrection into a new, more glorious life. Paul K.-K. Cho&’s unflinching analysis raises and wrestles with provocative questions about religious extremism, violent terrorism, and suicidal ideation —all of which carry significant implications for the biblically grounded life of faith today. Cho carefully situates the surveyed texts in their original cultural context, discussing relevant topics such the shame and honor culture of ancient Israel and the importance attached to the group over the individual. Closing with an epilogue that reflects on the surprising issue of whether biblical authors considered God to be capable of dying or being willing to die, Cho&’s fascinating study showcases the multifaceted relationship between death and life in the Hebrew Bible.
Willkommen am Wendepunkt!: Reiseführer in Ihre Zukunft – Mit Selbstcoaching auf neuen Wegen
by Melanie CordiniDieses Buch ist ein Reiseführer in Ihre Zukunft und zu Ihnen selbst!Wir alle erleben Wendepunkte. Sie sind zeitlos, weil sie zum Leben gehören. Sie sind Weichen, die über unsere Zukunft entscheiden, beruflich und privat. Welche Rolle spielt unser Innenleben am Wendepunkt? Woher kommen Schuld- und Angstgefühle? Welche Rolle spielen soziale Normen, Bauchgefühl, inneres Team und Glaubenssätze?Was lernen wir aus typischen Wendepunkten wie Familiengründung, Ruhestand, Schulabschluss oder privater Trennung? Wie helfen uns Krankheitssymptome glücklicher zu werden? Wie gewinnen wir eine positive Lebenseinstellung?Treffen Sie Ihre Wahl sowohl mit sachlichem Abstand als auch mit emotionaler Tiefe. Befreien Sie sich von unnötigem Ballast auf Ihrem Weg! Hinterfragen Sie Beweggründe und Ziele und finden Sie Ihr individuelles Lösungsmuster. Sie können mehr beeinflussen als Sie glauben!Dieser Ratgeber liefert alle erforderlichen Informationen für Ihre Wendepunkte, sortiert Ihr emotionales Gepäck und gibt unterhaltsam Empfehlungen für die optimale Reiseroute. In vielen Stories und humorvollen Beispielen aus dem Leben der Autorin und ihrer Coaching-Praxis werden Sie sich wiederfinden. Als Proviant für den Weg erhalten Sie zusätzlich den passenden Reise-Soundtrack, Ihr Trainings-Camp mit Praxisübungen sowie den Schnelldurchlauf aller Kapitel in handlichen Reisenotizen.
Willkommen am Wendepunkt!: Reiseführer in Ihre Zukunft – Mit Selbstcoaching auf neuen Wegen
by Melanie CordiniDieses Buch ist ein Reiseführer in Ihre Zukunft und zu Ihnen selbst!Wir alle erleben Wendepunkte. Sie sind zeitlos, weil sie zum Leben gehören. Sie sind Weichen, die über unsere Zukunft entscheiden, beruflich und privat. Welche Rolle spielt unser Innenleben am Wendepunkt? Woher kommen Schuld- und Angstgefühle? Welche Rolle spielen soziale Normen, Bauchgefühl, inneres Team und Glaubenssätze?Was lernen wir aus typischen Wendepunkten wie Familiengründung, Ruhestand, Schulabschluss oder privater Trennung? Wie helfen uns Krankheitssymptome glücklicher zu werden? Wie gewinnen wir eine positive Lebenseinstellung?Treffen Sie Ihre Wahl sowohl mit sachlichem Abstand als auch mit emotionaler Tiefe. Befreien Sie sich von unnötigem Ballast auf Ihrem Weg! Hinterfragen Sie Beweggründe und Ziele und finden Sie Ihr individuelles Lösungsmuster. Sie können mehr beeinflussen als Sie glauben!Dieser Ratgeber liefert alle erforderlichen Informationen für Ihre Wendepunkte, sortiert Ihr emotionales Gepäck und gibt unterhaltsam Empfehlungen für die optimale Reiseroute. In vielen Stories und humorvollen Beispielen aus dem Leben der Autorin und ihrer Coaching-Praxis werden Sie sich wiederfinden. Als Proviant für den Weg erhalten Sie Ihr Trainings-Camp mit Praxisübungen sowie den Schnelldurchlauf aller Kapitel in handlichen Reisenotizen.
Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman's Journey Through Depression
by Nana-Ama DanquahThe first book to focus on Black women and depression, through the author’s “absorbing and inspirational” (Washington Post) personal journey. When Nana-Ama Danquah, a twenty-two-year-old single mother, began to suffer from a variety of depressive symptoms after giving birth to her daughter, she thought she was going crazy. Determined to portray strength in a world that often undervalues Black women’s lives, she shrouded her debilitating despair in silence and denial. But when she befriends other Black women who suffer with depression, she finds the support she needs to confront the traumatic childhood events that lie beneath her grief. Twenty-five years after its initial publication, as best-selling author Andrew Solomon writes in an illuminating foreword, Willow Weep for Me “remains a brave book . . . but at the time of its writing it was humblingly audacious.” Also including an afterword from the author, this groundbreaking classic is a powerful meditation on courage and a litany for survival. “An important and moving memoir. [Danquah] describes beautifully her experiences with depression.” —Kay Redfield Jamison, author of An Unquiet Mind
The Willowbrook Wars: Bringing the Mentally Disabled into the Community
by David J. RothmanThe Willowbrook Wars is a dramatic and illuminating account of the effort to close down a scandal-ridden institution and return its 5,400 handicapped residents to communities in New York. The wars began in 1972 with Geraldo Rivera's televised raid on the Willowbrook State School. They continued for three years in a federal courtroom, with civil libertarian lawyers persuading a conservative and conscience-stricken judge to expand the rights of the disabled, and they culminated in a 1975 consent decree, with the state of New York pledging to accomplish the unprecedented assignment in six years.From 1975 to 1982, David and Sheila Rothman observed this remarkable chapter in American reform of mental disabilities care. Would the state live up to its agreement without "dumping" residents into other nightmarish institutions? Would the lawyers prove as interested in meeting client needs as in securing client rights? Could a tradition-bound bureaucracy create a new network of community services? And finally, would a governor and a legislature tolerate such outside intervention, and if so, for how long? In answering these questions,The Willowbrook Wars takes us behind the scenes to clarify the role of the judiciary, the fate of the underprivileged, and the potential for social justice. In their new afterword, the authors bring the story up to date, describing the results of the closing of the institution in 1987 from the experiences of integrating the former residents into communities to the legal battles between the state of New York and advocates for the mentally handicapped.