The Shame of the States
by ,HarCourt, Brace, $3.00.
One out of every twenty Americans is, has been, or will be a patient in one of the state mental hospitals of America. This single statistic — incredible but verified — points up the urgency of reforming the present scandalous conditions in state institutions for the insane. The shocking story of those conditions is soberly and eloquently told, and documented with amazing photographs, in The Shame of the States. The author is a journalist who has become a recognized authority in the field of mental health. His first book, The Mentally Ill in A merica, is considered a standard work by psychiatrists; he has been honored by the National Committee for Mental Hygiene and is a contributor to the scientific journals.
The villains of Mr. Deutsch’s report on the state asylums are not, in general, the departmental and institutional officials, most of whom were eager to help him publicize the facts, but legislative pennypinching, political cynicism ("the insane have no vote”), and public apathy and callousness. The book concludes with a practical program for reform. It is a top-notch piece of crusading journalism.