Gracefully Insane: Life and Death
Inside Americas Premier Mental
Hospital by Alex Beam
Gracefully Insane
Alex Beams Gracefully Insane is a knowledgeable historical portrait of
New Englands McLean Hospital, until recently the mental institution
equivalent of the Plaza Hotel. Fenceless and unguarded, McLeans
grounds were landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted. Amenities included
tennis courts, a golf course, room service, and a riding stable. As one
director said, If you dont know where you are, then youre in the right
place. Its patients have included James Taylor, Robert Lowell, and Ray
Charles. It also looms large in The Bell Jar and Girl, Interrupted, written
by former patients Sylvia Plath and Susanna Kaysen. Beam weaves
patients and employees stories with an informal review of mental health
treatments through the years, including lobotomies, insulin-induced
comas, ice-water baths, and a ghastly device called the coercion chair.
Gracefully Insane is amiable, lively, and honest. Its many anecdotes

(derived from patient records, journals, and interviews) are by turns
poignant, humorous, and unsettling. --H. OBillovitch
Personal Review: Gracefully Insane: Life and Death Inside
Americas Premier Mental Hospital by Alex Beam
This book was nothing like I expected it to be. I had no idea so many
"famous" people spent time at this institution. It was very easy to read,
had a few technical terms I had to look up but I finished it in two days.
Very good read...
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