No One Cares About Crazy People, Ron Powers
No One Cares About Crazy People, Ron Powers
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No One Cares About Crazy People
The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America

Author: Ron Powers

Narrator: Ron Powers

Unabridged: 14 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/21/2017

Synopsis

New York Times-bestselling author Ron Powers offers a searching, richly researched narrative of the social history of mental illness in America paired with the deeply personal story of his two sons' battles with schizophrenia.

From the centuries of torture of "lunatiks" at Bedlam Asylum to the infamous eugenics era to the follies of the anti-psychiatry movement to the current landscape in which too many families struggle alone to manage afflicted love ones, Powers limns our fears and myths about mental illness and the fractured public policies that have resulted.

Braided with that history is the moving story of Powers's beloved son Kevin -- spirited, endearing, and gifted -- who triumphed even while suffering from schizophrenia until finally he did not, and the story of his courageous surviving son Dean, who is also schizophrenic.

A blend of history, biography, memoir, and current affairs ending with a consideration of where we might go from here, this is a thought-provoking look at a dreaded illness that has long been misunderstood.

"Extraordinary and courageous . . . No doubt if everyone were to read this book, the world would change." -- New York Times Book Review

About Ron Powers

Ron Powers, a Pulitzer Prize-winning and Emmy Award-winning writer and critic, has studied and written about Mark Twain for many years. He is the author of ten books, including Dangerous Water: A Biography of the Boy Who Became Mark Twain, and the coauthor of two, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Flags of Our Fathers. He lives in Middlebury, Vermont.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship on November 18, 2019

This is a deeply emotional book about an important topic, and it seems to have found a large audience (judging by the number of holds at my local library if not the number of ratings on Goodreads). It’s a great idea, alternating between nonfiction chapters about the nature and history of mental illn......more

Goodreads review by Lew on June 07, 2017

This was an extremely painful book to read, not least because I have a history of mental illness in my family. Both my mother and her mother committed suicide—same method, same place—and I grew up visiting the local mental hospital where my mother stayed for long periods of time. She died in 1979, w......more

Goodreads review by Bonnie on April 02, 2017

As a clinical social worker with a special interest in the seriously mentally ill, I very much appreciated Ron Powers' personal and societal exploration of mental illness. As the father of two schizophrenic sons, one who took his own life, he knows the ravages of this disease firsthand. Despite a de......more

Goodreads review by Emily on January 23, 2018

This book is personal enough to be review-proof, so I'm giving it a noncommittal three stars even though I thought it had a lot of flaws. I picked it out because of its important topic: mental illness, and bad public policy surrounding mental illness. However, I think Powers's account of the history......more

Goodreads review by 11811 (Eleven) on February 08, 2018

This is a tough one. I understand the well-intentioned motive of forcing schizophrenics to take their medicine but I dislike the language used in the congressional bills the author supports. Civil liberties is an issue here despite the author’s casual dismissal of that fact. The bill would “expand i......more

Quotes

"Extraordinary and courageous...I'm not sure I've ever read anything that handles the decline of one's children with such openness and searing, stumbling honesty...[Powers] writes with fierce hope and fierce purpose to persuade the world to pay attention. No doubt if everyone were to read this book, the world would change."—Ron Suskind, New York Times Book Review

"[A] heartbreaking tribute to [Powers's] sons...and an urgent plea for reform."—People

"Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Powers (Mark Twain: A Life, 2005, etc.) presents two searing sagas: an indictment of mental health care in the United States and the story of his two schizophrenic sons.... This hybrid narrative, enhanced by the author's considerable skills as a literary stylist, succeeds on every level."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Very emotional.... [Powers] reminds us how apathetic and cruel society can be when it comes to mental illness."—Booklist (starred review)

"No One Cares About Crazy People is a woefully necessary kick in the teeth to society's understanding and treatment of mental illness. Reading Ron Powers is always an event--you can expect expert research and rich reporting in an engrossing style--but what makes this book soar is the passion of Powers' conviction based off his own intimate experiences with schizophrenia. I put this book down days ago and I'm still reeling. It's the rare book that breaks your life into a before and an after."—SusannahCahalan, New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire

"Ron Powers writes eloquently, passionately, and persuasively about the failure to properly treat mental illness in America. What makes this book really powerful is Powers's personal story-the harrowing, wrenching tale of his two sons wrestling with the unholy demon of schizophrenia."—Evan Thomas, NewYork Times bestselling author of Being Nixon

"Whether Ron Powers is writing about Mark Twain, small-town life in the Midwest, the state of television, or crime, his books resonate. Now he has written the book he never wanted to tackle-about the schizophrenia of his sons and the cruel failures of the American mental health establishment."—SteveWeinberg, author of Taking on the Trust

"In telling this gripping and deeply personal story, Ron Powers puts chronic mental illness in the broad context of history, society, and public policy. His compelling account helps shake us out of the embarrassment and apathy that have tethered public discourse and lasting action to treat mental illness. Despite fitful progress, real and lasting progress and empathy are still so easily tripped up by ignorance, fear, and unease. Ron Powers explains why we need to move beyond the stigma that still makes progress difficult, and sometimes impossible. The story he tells is not a comfortable one, but it's an important one."—U.S. Senator PatrickLeahy (D-Vt.)

"Ron Powers and his wife never expected to visit the exotic lands of schizophrenia until their two sons became affected. A gifted professional writer, Powers takes the reader along on his explorations as he tries to understand why it happened and what to do. What he finds is "the most dreaded of all human mental disorders." Very readable and highly recommended."—E. Fuller Torrey, MD,author of Surviving Schizophrenia

"This is the book that Ron Powers, one of America's most elegant chroniclers, vowed he would never write. Too disturbing, too painful, too intimate. We are fortunate that he changed his mind. Powers has tackled his most challenging subject yet with erudition, humanity, and courage. By allowing readers into the sanctity of his home, he makes real the toll of mental illness on those who suffer, their families, and the community.No One Cares About Crazy People is an unforgettable, insistent call for a nationwide conversation and action, for embracing our most vulnerable benefits us all."—Pamela RotnerSakamoto, author of Midnight in Broad Daylight: A Japanese American FamilyCaught Between Two Worlds

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