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Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York
Contributor(s): Horn, Stacy (Author)

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 ISBN: 1616209356     ISBN-13: 9781616209353
Publisher: Algonquin Books
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Binding Type: Paperback - See All Available Formats & Editions
Published: May 2019
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Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States - State & Local - Middle Atlantic (dc, De, Md, Nj, Ny, Pa)
- Social Science | Poverty & Homelessness
- Social Science | Penology
Dewey: 362.210
Physical Information: 0.8" H x 5.4" W x 8.2" L (0.50 lbs) 320 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - 19th Century
- Chronological Period - 1900-1949
- Locality - New York, N.Y.
- Geographic Orientation - New York
Features: Price on Product
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
"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 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 his fellow man. Damnation Island shows how far we've come in caring for the least fortunate among us--and reminds us how much work still remains.

Contributor Bio(s): Horn, Stacy: -

Stacy Horn is the author of five nonfiction books, including Imperfect Harmony. Mary Roach has hailed her for "combining awe-fueled curiosity with topflight reporting skills," while others have described her work as "immaculately researched" and "several notched above the typical reporter's insights."

Horn's commentaries have been heard on NPR's All Things Considered, and she is the founder of the social network Echo. She lives in New York City, and when she's not researching and writing, she's singing soprano 2 (the best part) with the Choral Society of Grace Church or helping care for animals at the ASPCA Animal Hospital, where she is frequently forced to chant quietly to herself, "No, Stacy, you may not take that puppy (or kitten) home."
 
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