An edition of Going Crazy (1976)

Going Crazy

An Inquiry Into Madness In Our Time

  • 0 Ratings
  • 0 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 0 Have read

My Reading Lists:

Create a new list

Check-In

×Close
Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
Today

  • 0 Ratings
  • 0 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 0 Have read

Buy this book

Last edited by ImportBot
February 28, 2022 | History
An edition of Going Crazy (1976)

Going Crazy

An Inquiry Into Madness In Our Time

  • 0 Ratings
  • 0 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 0 Have read

One might wish for a little method to this particular madness--a large, confusing book on a large, inchoate subject: not just ""the madness in our time"" (which should be material enough for anyone) but ""the madness [that] is part of all of us, all the time. . . ."" Friedrich omits hardly anyone or anything. He shifts abruptly from present to past, from real people to characters out of literature, detailing at length their bizarre tales. In a series of disconnected mini-biographies, he touches on all the facets, all the possible interpretations, of the bona fide or apparent crazies. To name a few: Oedipus, Hamlet, Lear, George III, Zelda Fitzgerald, Robert Schumann, Bobby Fischer, Eldridge Cleaver, Norman Mailer, Mark Vonnegut, Harvard graduates, a woman lawyer, opera heroines, a ""man called Harry,"" himself, his friends, friends of friends. . . . He writes well, but the mass of detail simply blurs the real issue at hand; one loses the focus and then begins to wonder if there is one. Friedrich himself admits he doesn't have the answers. Not only is he ""not a psychiatrist [with] all-encompassing theories,"" but he distrusts those who do have them--the traditional psychiatrists as well as controversial figures such as Laing. Interviews are combined with personal impressions, quotations from psychiatrists, many anecdotes, and Friedrich's own ruminations on modern tensions and anxieties. Friedrich himself anticipates his critics and realizes the book's inherent weaknesses. It's assuredly an energetic, ambitious work, but one of those overextended books where more is definitely less than one might have hoped.

Publish Date
Publisher
Avon Books
Language
English
Pages
390

Buy this book

Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Going Crazy
Going Crazy: An Inquiry Into Madness In Our Time
1977, Avon Books
in English
Cover of: Going crazy
Going crazy: an inquiry into madness in our time
1976, Simon and Schuster
in English

Add another edition?

Book Details


Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. 361-370) and index.

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL7431272M
Internet Archive
goingcrazyinquir00frie
ISBN 10
0380008882
ISBN 13
9780380008889
OCLC/WorldCat
3162422
Library Thing
256892
Goodreads
565356

Community Reviews (0)

Feedback?
No community reviews have been submitted for this work.

Lists

This work does not appear on any lists.

History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
February 28, 2022 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
March 13, 2018 Edited by mountainaxe Edited without comment.
March 13, 2018 Edited by mountainaxe Added new cover
August 12, 2011 Edited by ImportBot add ia_box_id to scanned books
April 29, 2008 Created by an anonymous user Imported from amazon.com record.