At this time the contest is over and the winner has been contacted. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Hello, everyone!

To start the new year off on a positive note we have decided to do a book giveaway. One person will win a brand new copy of the book, This Way Madness Lies by author Mike Jay. It contains more than 350 color and black and white illustrations and is a hardcover edition. The giveaway opens at midnight on January 24, 2018 and will close at midnight on February 7, 2018. Standard rules apply. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.

From the publisher:

This Way Madness Lies is a thought-provoking exploration of the history of madness and its treatment as seen through the lens of its proverbial home: Bethlem Royal Hospital, London, popularly known as Bedlam. The book charts the evolution of the asylum through four incarnations: the eighteenth-century madhouse, the nineteenth century asylum, the twentieth-century mental hospital, and the post-asylum modern day, when mental health has become the concern of the wider community. The book reveals the role that the history of madness and its treatment has played in creating the landscape of the asylum, in all its iterations.

Moving and sometimes provocative illustrations sourced from the Wellcome Collection’s extensive archives and the Bethlem Royal Hospital’s archive highlight the trajectory of each successive era of institution: founded in the optimistic spirit of humanitarian reform but eventually dismantled amid accusations of cruelty and neglect. Each chapter concludes with a selection of revealing and captivating artwork created by some of the inmates of the institutions of that era.

This Way Madness Lies highlights fundamental questions that remain relevant and unresolved: What lies at the root of mental illness? Should sufferers be segregated from society or integrated more fully? And in today’s post-asylum society, what does the future hold for a world beyond Bedlam?

One entry will be randomly selected and notified.