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From ‘one of America’s most courageous young journalists’ (NPR) comes a propulsive narrative history investigating the fifty-year-old mystery behind a dramatic experiment that changed the course of modern medicine
Shortlisted for the 2020 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize
Named a Best Book of 2020 by The Guardian * The Telegraph * The Times
In the early 1970s, Stanford professor Dr Rosenhan conducted an experiment, sending sane patients into psychiatric wards; the result of which was a damning paper about psychiatric practises. The ripple effects of this paper helped bring the field of psychiatry to its knees, closing down institutions and changing mental health diagnosis forever.
But what if that ground-breaking and now-famous experiment was itself deeply flawed? And what does that mean for our understanding of mental illness today? These are the questions Susannah Cahalan asks in her completely engrossing investigation into this staggering case, where nothing is quite as it seems.
“People have asked me over the years: if they liked The Psychopath Test, what should they read next? I now have an answer. Susannah Cahalan’s The Great Pretender is such an achievement. It’s a wonderful look at the anti-psychiatry movement and a great adventure – gripping, investigative. It’s destined to become a popular and important book”
Jon Ronson
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“Utterly compelling … important and spirited”
observer
“A fascinating piece of detection … passionate [and] a warning against easy answers”
sunday Times
“A well-crafted, gripping narrative that succeeds on many levels. Cahalan, who gained the trust of Rosenhan’s family, is meticulous and sensitive in her research; compelling and insightful in her writing. She accurately conveys the troubles that have haunted psychiatry over the past half-century … her book, which I hope wins awards, has immense value as a historical account”
financial Times
“Brilliant detective work … fascinating”
guardian
Susannah Cahalan
Susannah Cahalan is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, a memoir about her struggle with a rare autoimmune disease of the brain. She lives in Brooklyn.
@scahalan | susannahcahalan.com