Madhouse

“A definitive account of the ups and downs of this institution, as well as a tour of the horizon of Cuban psychiatry in general, documenting the arrival of psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, and the other great tides in the history of international psychiatry that washed up on these Latin shores.”—Isis

“An important contribution to the understanding of Cuban history that bridges many historiographies, from scholarship of state formation and imperial politics to histories of gender and sexuality to the history of medicine.”—American Historical Review

“Destined to become mandatory reading for all of those interested in the history of psychiatry in Latin America and also, more broadly, for the general public interested in Cuban history.”—Hispanic American Historical Review

“Will serve as a launching pad for future researchers.”—Bulletin of the History of Medicine

“Lambe reminds the reader of the lasting power of revolution and its role in psychiatry in Cuba.”—H-Net Reviews

“Attends to interactions among state officials, legal regimes, and clinical approaches to what has been variably termed insanity, or loss of reason.”—New West Indian Guide

“Madhouse is a great study of one of the most important psychiatric institutions in the Americas. It is not only beautifully written in lively prose, but it displays depth of knowledge in medicine and science studies and great familiarity with all domains of Cuban culture and history. The book is also refreshing in the way it overcomes the typical division in Cuban studies among the colonial period, the U.S. occupation, the first republic, and the revolution. Jennifer Lambe’s long view, spanning modern Cuban history, proposes an always contested and often tragic psychiatric institution, propelled by intrigue and experimental transformation, as a lens for viewing the fate of modern Cuba itself. The compelling results have immense implications for all areas of Cuban studies, from the history of sexuality, gender, and medicine, to the politics of reform, revolution, and everyday life.” — Steven Palmer, University of Windsor

“In 1857, a house intended for the social exclusion of insane Cubans was established on the lands owned by the slave trader Jose Mazorra, and a century marked by wars, corruption, and revolution turned the asylum into a 'pantomime in miniature' of an independent yet occupied island called Cuba. Mazorra was a racially complex and 'impure' social setting that doctors and politicians felt the need to rewrite as a morally uplifting journey towards physical health, if not democracy. That Jennifer Lambe has opened the archives of this tropical madhouse is our good fortune, because the story is so engrossing that readers will inevitably wonder whether these events are real. Madhouse is historical research at its best.” — José Quiroga, Emory University