Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason

Michel Foucault's most admired book is an incisive history of changing attitudes toward mental illness of Western Europe between 1500 and 1800.

Madness and Civilization investigates the archeology of madness, tracing shifting perceptions through changes in the culture, laws, politics, philosophy, and medical practices of the West. In the late Middle Ages, insanity was still considered part of everyday life and people who were commonly labeled fools and lunatics walked the streets freely. It ...