The best specimen of a tyrant : the ambitious Dr. Abraham Van Norstrand and the Wisconsin Insane Hospital / Thomas Doherty.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Doherty, Thomas.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Physicians--Wisconsin--Biography.

Physicians.

Psychiatric hospitals--Wisconsin--History--19th century.

Psychiatric hospitals.

Businessmen--Wisconsin--Biography.

Businessmen.

Wisconsin State Hospital for the Insane--History.

Wisconsin State Hospital for the Insane.

Van Norstrand, Abraham, 1825-1883.

Van Norstrand, Abraham.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (344 p.)

Edition:

1st University of Iowa Press ed. 2013.

Place of Publication:

Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In 1847, young Dr. Abraham Van Norstrand left Vermont to seek his fortune in the West, but in Wisconsin his business ventures failed, and a medical practice among hard-up settlers added little to his pocketbook. During the Civil War he organized and ran one of the army's biggest hospitals but resigned when dark rumors surfaced about him. Back home, he accepted with mixed feelings the one prestigious position available to him: superintendent of the state's first hospital for the insane. Van Norstrand was a newcomer to the so-called "Hospital Movement," perhaps th

Contents:

Contents; Introduction; Prologue: A Locked Room, a Battered Body; 1. "The Fortune I Desired and Expected"; 2. "I Soon Found My Hands Full"; 3. "My Blood Is Up"; 4. "The Best Specimen of a Tyrant"; 5. "A Severe Punishment of a Deluded and Spiteful People"; 6. "The Whole Camp Still as Death"; 7. "The First Negro Hospital"; 8. "The Wails of the Wounded"; 9. "Friends and Enemies"; 10. "A Second Class Man"; 11. "The Usual Little Jarrings in the Ward"; 12. "A Critical and Searching Examination"; 13. "Patients that Manifested a Dislike to Dr. Van Norstrand"; 14. "Little Short of Murderous Neglect"

15. "Rotten Eggs"16. "A Solemn Court of Impeachment"; 17. "Abandon Hope"; 18. "A True Gentleman of the Old School"; Epilogue: "Three Percent Hastings"; Acknowledgments; Notes; Bibliography; Index

Notes:

Originally published: Madison, Wis. : Spenser-Hoyt, c2007.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781609381615

1609381610

OCLC:

831120944