Gracefully Insane

Browse all of the Salem on Literature series

Gracefully Insane (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)

At a glance:

Newspaper columnist Alex Beam spent years gathering material for Gracefully Insane: The Rise and Fall of America’s Premier Mental Hospital, initially planning to compile an oral history of McLean Hospital from interviews with past and current doctors, patients, and nurses associated with McLean. Beam saw the Belmont, Massachusetts, hospital’s history as a reflection of Boston’s history and culture. Established in the late nineteenth century a few miles outside Boston, several of McLean’s original buildings were named after wealthy Bostonians, and many prominent figures in...

[The entire page is 1913 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

Lookup any word on eNotes with our dictionary. Highlight the word and press SHIFT + D for a definition, or SHIFT + T for a synonym.