The Last Asylum is Taylor's breathtakingly blunt and brave account of those years. In it, Taylor draws not only on her experience as a historian, but also, more importantly, on her own lived history at Friern-- once known as the Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum and today the site of a luxury apartment complex. Taylor was admitted to Friern in July 1988, not long before England's asylum system began to undergo dramatic change: in a development that was mirrored in America, the 1990s saw the old asylums shuttered, their patients left to plot courses through a perpetually overcrowded and underfunded system of community care. But Taylor contends that the emptying of the asylums also marked a bigger loss, a loss of community. She credits her own recovery to the help of a steadfast psychoanalyst and a loyal circle of friends-- from Magda, Taylor's manic-depressive roommate, to Fiona, who shares tips for navigating the system and stories of her boyfriend, the "Spaceman," and his regular journeys to Saturn. The forging of that network of support and trust was crucial to Taylor's recovery, offering a respite from the "stranded, homeless feelings" she and others found in the outside world.
A vivid picture of mental health treatment at a moment of epochal change, The Last Asylum is also a moving meditation on Taylor's own experience, as well as that of millions of others who struggle with mental illness.
Exploring the American idea through ambitious, essential reporting and storytelling. Of no party or clique since 1857. https://t.co/uHeZCz8ahz
What should you read next? Today’s recommendation: Barbara Taylor's memoir "The Last Asylum." From inside a psychiatric institution, Taylor documents the state of mental-health treatment in England at a time of seismic change. Find more suggestions here: https://t.co/5nxy2WiNFR
Writer, critic: Baffler, NLR, Jacobin, Guardian etc. Editing Raphael Samuel's essays. Editor: @versobooks johnphilipmerrick@gmail.com / john@verso.co.uk
I'm currently putting together a new collection of Raphael Samuel's historical essays (forthcoming from @VersoBooks next Autumn), and during my research i was reminded of this classic Raph moment, taken from Barbara Taylor's The Last Asylum https://t.co/TvE5SipfH4