Through an examination of the fascinating lives and careers of a series of nineteenth-century "mad-doctors," Masters of Bedlam provides a unique perspective on the creation of the modern profession of psychiatry, taking us from the secret and shady practices of the trade in lunacy, through the utopian expectations that were aroused by the lunacy re "The authors. . . give their story a human dimension by concentrating on seven of the most prominent men active in `mad doctoring' in the 19th century. Several of these. . . emerge with great vividness, and along the way some extraordinary events come to light. . . . [A] fascinating book. . . ."---Patrick McGrath, Los Angeles Times Book Review