Committed

“A model of how to write histories that are as inclusive and broadly accessible as they are necessary.”—H-Net

“Susan Burch’s Committed is a pithy yet powerful read.”—Law and History Review

“This slim volume packs a powerful punch. . . . Burch’s theoretical framing of the subject is brilliant and encourages us to reckon with the history of psychiatric thought and its manifestation in institutional practice in new ways.”—Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences

“A short but powerful book. . . . Committed offers a case study of how Native American history should be researched and written.”—Annals of Iowa

“By identifying institutionalized people, mostly women, whose stories could be patched together through archival records and contemporary oral history interviews, Burch brings them out of the shadows to underscore not only the human cost but also the human capacity for hope, healing, and survival under the worst of circumstances.”—Journal of American History

“An exemplary work, well suited for undergraduate and graduate courses alike; it should attract an interdisciplinary readership. . . . Deeply rooted in both disability studies and Indigenous studies, Committed demands that scholars carefully consider which stories are told and how—and that scholars remain accountable for such decisions.”—Native American and Indigenous Studies

“Committed is story and history. A much-needed public, intergenerational history unveils yet another mode of removal, incarceration, and violence against Indigenous women and families and the other side of it through the stories of descendants. A necessary read to understand the historic breadth and forms of Indian Removal.”—Jacki T. Rand, University of Iowa

“A must-read for anyone interested in the history of asylums and the ways those institutions have torn the fabric of people’s lives, leaving legacies of trauma in their wake. The book powerfully chronicles the resistance of the people incarcerated at Canton Asylum and the kin networks that led to their survivance and the survival of their memory.”—Anne E. Parsons, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

“A new model for engaged history, Committed sears through the story of Native people stolen from their communities and trammeled by racism within a federally run psychiatric facility.”—Katherine Ott, National Museum of American History