Stacy Horn

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.… (meer)

Stacy Horn has pieced together a history of the institutions on Blackwell’s Island (now Roosevelt Island) in New York City in the 19th century. The book is structured in sections that align with the buildings – an insane asylum, workhouse, almshouse, penitentiary, and hospital. These structures were almost instantly overcrowded and underfunded, leading to appalling conditions – limited ventilation, infestations of vermin, rampant diseases, starvation, violence, and prisoners serving as attendants. The author shows how good intentions went horribly awry.

Considering that records had largely been destroyed, it is apparent that Stacy Horn has done extensive research to find these detailed stories of people who lived, worked, and were confined on the island. She highlights the lives of abused, neglected, and murdered patients as well as those that tried to change the system or lessen the dreadful conditions.

This account is extremely detailed. Horn examines the flawed legal system and misguided social milieu that lumped together the poor, mad, sick, and criminal. She shows how these blurred lines have contributed to issues that persist today.

Memorable quotes:

“Although the insane were no longer thrown in prison (mostly), the criminal and the insane still formed one group in people’s minds, along with the poor, who were often thought of as defacto ‘guilty.’”

“Today around 28 percent of Americans suffer from some form of anxiety disorder, an affliction that would have been enough to get you committed in the nineteenth century.”

“In reality it was as easy to get an innocent person sent to the Workhouse as it was to get a sane person committed to an asylum.”… (meer)