The Mask of Sanity

An Attempt to Clarify Some Issues About the So-Called Psychopathic Personality

By: Hervey Cleckley

Narrated by: Scott R. Pollak

Length: 21 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Although highly controversial, Hervey Cleckley's Mask of Sanity provides one of the most influential clinical descriptions of psychopathy in the 20th century. At the crux of his argument, Cleckley claims that many psychopathic personalities go undiagnosed because they maintain a social mask that conceals their mental disorder and enables them to blend in with society. Furthermore, many of these affected individuals appear to function normally in accordance with standard psychiatric criteria.

Intent on detecting and diagnosing the elusive psychopath, Cleckley has compiled an assortment of case studies and offers suggestions for palliative care. This ambitious work aims to define and examine every aspect of this abstract state of being. Ultimately, Cleckley refines the term "psychopath" and strips it of stigmatization.

This classic has transformed the psychiatric definition of sanity and continues to provide insight on American society and psychological introspection. This audio edition is expertly narrated by Scott Pollak.

Content Note: This audiobook is an exact reading of the original text as it was first published in 1941. The content and language have not been altered to reflect cultural shifts since the book's writing and as such may be jarring or upsetting. We encourage listeners to skip, fast forward, or listen with a critical ear as they deem appropriate for themselves.

Public Domain (P)2020 Echo Point Books & Media, LLC

A Marvel in a Sea of Garbage. Honesty!

This is the best audiobook I've stumbled on in ages, despite the sickening apologies the publishers have included for its content. My sister is a psychopath, and as I listen to this title it is like reliving all the crimes I saw her commit, chief among them the theft of my home and inheritance. She had a little help from "her wife." Well, Hervey Cleckley describes exactly what motivates such freakish monsters walking loose in society. I wish he was around to diagnose all of the "w0ke movement."

Wow, just wow!

Long, dense at times, and absolutely fascinating! This is the most complete look at the individual and societal problem of psychopaths.

Your view of humankind will never be the same after reading this book.

What ARE we going to do about it??

Respectable and comprehensive.

This is simply a staple for those who find abnormal psychic structures interesting if not clinically pivotal constructs regarding forensic psychology and psychiatry. Cleckley has left the world a substantial piece of the puzzle.

An Amazing Book that Holds Up Well Over the Years

Utterly fascinating. The writing is brilliant.

I listened in vain for the reason Audible had the Big Fat Warning about the chapter on homosexuals. The only thing I can tell that triggered such an absurd warning is the use of the word deviant.

Obviously, the people at Audible don’t know anything about science, so here’s a primer: astronauts, presidents, saints, hot dog-eating champions, Patrick Mahomes, and best-selling audio books are all deviants. That is, they deviate from the norm. That also includes homosexuals, bank robbers, non-smokers who die from lung cancer, people who live 112 years, and organic beef that tastes good.

Nice job, Audible, of sticking a warning label to a book. So original. And so stupid. You just make people more interested in reading something you don’t want them to.

Amazing!

Thank you for releasing this on Audible! I waited for years... An Amazing examination of these human predators.

You will definitely learn something new

I found this audiobook very interesting. It discusses the personality of the psychopath, not just the actions, as a lot of books on this topic tend to do. If you're looking to here despicable acts, you will not enjoy this. If you're looking to learn something new, you will enjoy this.

Fascinating, well-written, and something insightful despite being such old material

This book tackles on the stereotypical description of psychopaths and what implications on the medical and psychiatric systems are caused by properly defining the condition of psychopathy.

The reader of the book is very matter-of-fact despite there being some humorous passages in the recounting of patients and subjects that suffer from this condition. But perhaps that is fitting given that this book is akin to a textbook on the underpinnings of psychopathy.

There is a review somewhere above that woefully misrepresents the fairly outdated and toxic view that Hervey Cleckley has on homosexuality. That review claims that the author’s worst comment on homosexuality is that they are deviants (which is already sufficiently bad if you ever understood the societal implication of being called a deviant in the 1900s and that homosexuality was criminal in many states).

In reality the author talks about how homosexuality is something to be cured, that it is pervasive and infectious, a reason for some moral failings of society, and so-forth should not be represented in the general media at all. Furthermore, he presumes that ALL homosexual relationships are bound to fail since two same-sex bodies have incompatibility. Basically that homosexuality in general is undesirable.

One wonders why the reader above misrepresented the author’s views on homosexuality so terribly. Either they lack reading comprehension skills or have an agenda—perhaps a little bit of both.

That said, the book provides a great deal of not well-known information, to the point of being world-viewpoint altering in certain aspects, homophobia aside. It’s interesting that Cleckley has a general tone of compassion for psychopaths despite their destructive behavior and how untreatable their condition is, which shows that a good deal can be learned of books from an era where dated viewpoints can occur.

Needs a 2022 Revision

It was hard to get through the chapters because the writers thinking, and the general thinking of that era in psychology, confused causation with association. It’s not bigotry, although it feels like it. Assessments of psychopaths utilize character traits and identity orientations as a pathology for determining/Diagnosing psychopaths which is incorrect.

If you can get past the authors claims about gay men and confusion with some addictive personality behaviors, then There is a lot to learn. Remaining critical, while reading the book, not of content but of thought processes then the book has a lot to offer. More so than most books about psychopaths available today.

The good stuff comes after chapter 25. The best chapter was chapter 63. Chapter 64 is a bit dramatic. There was a lot of claims on the authors behalf of client testimony, but it doesn’t seem possible that the level of detail shared in the book would’ve been given by a client. This a five Star book with a 2022 revision.