From Mission to Madness

From Mission to Madness
Author: Valeen Tippetts Avery
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 394
Release: 1998
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780252067013

Avery draws on a large body of correspondence for details of David's life and on his poetry to reveal his personality and emotional struggles. She tells of his mental deterioration, starting with a probable breakdown early in 1870 and ending with his death in 1904 in the Northern Illinois Hospital and Asylum for the Insane in Elgin, where he had been confined for twenty-seven years.

Divine Madness

Divine Madness
Author: Robert Muchamore
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2014-04-29
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1481426206

A teenage special agent risks being brainwashed when he heads to the Outback to infiltrate a cult in this suspenseful CHERUB novel, featuring a striking new look! CHERUB agents are highly trained, extremely talented—and all under the age of seventeen. For official purposes, these agents do not exist. They are sent out on missions to spy on terrorists, hack into crucial documents, and gather intel on global threats—all without gadgets or weapons. It is an extremely dangerous job, but these agents have one crucial advantage: Adults never suspect that teens are spying on them. In Divine Madness, CHERUB uncovers a link between ecoterrorist group Help Earth and a wealthy religious cult known as The Survivors. James is sent to their isolated outback headquarters on an infiltration mission. It’s a thousand kilometers to the closest town, and James is under massive pressure form the cult’s brainwashing techniques. This time he’s not just fighting terrorists. He has to battle for his own mind.

Joseph Smith III

Joseph Smith III
Author: Roger D. Launius
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 436
Release: 1995
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780252065156

This interesting, well-researched biography of the founder of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints covers the 54 years of his presidency, a tenure marked by Mormon factionalism that he succeeded in controlling. The son of the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith III at first resisted succeeding his father as leader and prophet but, as his biographer underscores, his governance from 1860 until his death in 1914 was fiercely committed to the religious legacy of his parent. Differing in style from the elder Smith's "sometimes disastrous impracticality," his son exemplified rugged individualism with a secular pragmatism that sprang from his legal education. An opponent of polygamy, as proclaimed by Brigham Young, the younger Smith established a viable bureaucracy and a style of leadership that characterizes the Mormon community today, notes the author, a military historian.

The Great Pretender

The Great Pretender
Author: Susannah Cahalan
Publisher: Canongate Books
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2020-01-02
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1838851429

'Destined to become a popular and important book' Jon Ronson 'Fascinating' Sunday 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.

Committed

Committed
Author: Paolina Milana
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 343
Release: 2021-05-04
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1647420431

After a decade of caring for crazy and keeping her mother’s mental illness a secret from the outside world, twenty-year-old Paolina Milana longs for just one year free from the madness of her home. When she gets the chance to go to an out-of-state school, she takes it, but her family won’t leave her be. Letter after letter arrives, constantly reminding her of the insanity rooted in her family tree. Even worse, the voices in her own head whisper words she’s not sure are normal. “Please don’t make me be like Mamma,” she prays to a God she’s not sure is listening. The unexpected death of her father soon after she returns home leaves Paolina in shock—and in charge of her paranoid schizophrenic mother. But it isn’t until she is twenty-seven and her sister two years her junior explodes in a psychotic episode and, just like Mamma, is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and must be committed, that Paolina descends into her own despair, nearly losing herself to the darkness. Poignant and impactful, Committed is one woman’s story of resilience as she struggles to stay sane despite the madness that surrounds her.

Delight in Disorder

Delight in Disorder
Author: Tony E Roberts
Publisher:
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2014-02-26
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780971803886

Delight in Disorder is the story of one pastor's battle with bipolar disorder. This spiritual memoir is a house of meditations where faith and mental illness co-exist, at times fueling each other to dangerous distortion, at times feeding each other to fruitful gain. It offers hope for those often neglected and shunned. It also fosters compassion for believers towards those with troubled minds.

Brain on Fire

Brain on Fire
Author: Susannah Cahalan
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2012-11-13
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1451621396

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING CHLOË GRACE MORETZ A “captivating” (The New York Times Book Review), award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, Brain on Fire is a powerful account of one woman’s struggle to recapture her identity. When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled as violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened? In an “unforgettable” (Elle), “stunningly brave” (NPR), and breathtaking narrative, Susannah tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family’s inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that almost didn’t happen. “A fascinating look at the disease that…could have cost this vibrant, vital young woman her life” (People), Brain on Fire is an unforgettable exploration of memory and identity, faith and love, and a profoundly compelling tale of survival and perseverance.

Mayhem and Madness

Mayhem and Madness
Author: J. A. Dauber
Publisher: Holiday House
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2019-09-03
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0823443108

Bailey never meant to be the bad guy in the bulletproof robotic suit, but with every mission he gets closer to finding his father . . . and he can't stop now. Bailey is a pretty average sixteen-year-old in a pretty average town. He runs track, gets decent grades, and has an unrequited crush. So what is a super-powered flying suit of computerized armor doing twenty feet under his boring suburban home? Bailey needs to know where it came from, if it belonged to his long-missing father, and most importantly, if it can be used to bring his dad back. This lightning-fast adventure inspired by classic comic book tales pushes a good kid to his limits and questions the difference between a hero and a villain. One day he's getting beat up by the captain of the football team, the next day he's robbing banks on Fifth Avenue, stealing diamonds from Tiffany's, and zooming through aerial dogfights. But how much bad is Bailey willing to do to bring his dad home safely? For fans of Iron Man, superhero stories, and dark humor. An ILA-CBC Young Adults' Choice!

Method in the Madness

Method in the Madness
Author: Parameswaran Iyer
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2021-01-31
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9390327571

Parameswaran Iyer, former Secretary to the Government of India, is best known for leading the implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship programme, which became the world's largest sanitation revolution. But Iyer is not your typical bureaucrat. With a far-from-usual career combining two distinguished tenures in the government and an eventful stint outside it, he likes to describe himself as an uncommon 'Insider-Outsider-Insider'. In Method in the Madness, he reflects on the unique path he chose - from cracking the IAS to becoming a globe-trotting World Bank technocrat, to playing the role of a coach to his professional tennis-playing children, to finally returning to India and implementing the SBM. Written with humour and wisdom, this is an inspiring read full of key management insights, practical career advice, and valuable life lessons that will resonate with readers across age groups and professions.