When New York City purchased a narrow, two-mile island in the East River, they called it Blackwell's Island. Over the next hundred years, the city would send its insane, sick, criminal and indigent here. Stacy Horn uses the voices of Blackwell's inhabitants, as well as the period's city officials, journalists and reformers to create this compelling and fascinating narrative. You get a very clear picture of what daily life was like for people sent to the island and why the mention of Blackwell's Island sent a cold shiver down people's spines.
I have a complaint about this book: it was too short. I found it so fascinating that I could have a read a book that included another 100-200 pages and still kept turning the pages. To me, this is the perfect kind of history book: packed with information, yet having a pacing and readability like the best fiction. This might not be everyone's cup of tea, subject-wise, but I enjoy reading about this time period and also learning about the architecture and design of asylums, hospitals and prisons (and also how they were run).
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