The Discovery of the Asylum Social Order and Disorder in the New Republic

A classic in American social history, first published in 1971, asks why Americans, beginning in the 1820s and 1830s simultaneously and confidently constructed prisons, insane asylums, reformatories, and almshouses to confine and treat their deviant and dependent population. In a new introduction, Rothman examines this core concern of European and American social history and analyzes the many answers that have been proposed. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR