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The Lives They Left Behind
- Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic
- Narrated by: Alex Paul
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
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Publisher's Summary
More than four hundred abandoned suitcases filled with patients’ belongings were found when Willard Psychiatric Center closed in 1995 after 125 years of operation. They are skillfully examined here and compared to the written record to create a moving—and devastating—group portrait of twentieth-century American psychiatric care.
Critic Reviews
The Lives They Left Behind is a deeply moving testament to the human side of mental illness, and of the narrow margin which so often separates the sane from the mad. It is a remarkable portrait, too, of the life of a psychiatric asylum--the sort of community in which, for better and for worse, hundreds of thousands of people lived out their lives. Darby Penney and Peter Stastny's careful historical (almost archaeological) and biographical reconstructions give us unique insight into these lives which would otherwise be lost and, indeed, unimaginable to the rest of us.” (Oliver Sacks, M.D., Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, Columbia University Artist, and author of Musicophilia)
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What listeners say about The Lives They Left Behind
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- B. Shaff
- 11-09-17
Not really the book I expected
I am currently doing some work at the site of the former Willard Asylum and during a Google search found this book. I expected a book of stories about the people and their lives here. About half or less of the book seems to be about the people. All the rest seemed like a social justice crusade against the past and current mental health system. The book could be titled "All the things they did wrong and still do" While many of the injustices of the past clearly weave into the personal stories it seemed like whole chapters drifted way of the implied subject of the book.
8 people found this helpful
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- Jennifer
- 10-02-14
excellent voice - like the Dragnet detective
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
Since I was truly curious about the subject of the history of mental health institutionsI found the listen to be time well spent. The authors were documenting many facts and, for most of the book,leaving the listener to sift through what they heard and draw their own conclusions. The narrator stayed even and true to the text. The detective style of narration interjected an ominous truth to the book. (sometimes the lists of what was found in a suitcase mayhave become tedious to listen to, but the point was well made, and with Mr. Paul's voice would send a shiver).
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
Being non-fiction, this book was not a "story" per se. The facts were eerie. The points made by the writing of this book revealed the intense need for changes in the mental health care systems, and the fact that not enough changes have yet occurred remain.
What about Alex Paul’s performance did you like?
I liked Mr. Paul's narration. Serious, consistent.- not getting in the way of the text revealing what the authors were wanting to reveal.
8 people found this helpful
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- Joni
- 10-05-19
could have been so much more interest
too clinical. their lives were written like an autopsy. easy to fall asleep to though. sorry maybe I expected to much
2 people found this helpful
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- Listing Books
- 02-13-18
Truly sad and very interesting.
A great interest in preserving the life's of the forgotten. A sad reality of how we treated mentally ill and in many cases those imprisoned against there will. Very descriptive. Only negative at times was the long mundane description of some items found. Overall a wonderful exploration of the mental institutes of the past and the treatment that persons often innocent of any crime or mental problem went through.
2 people found this helpful
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- Mommy4Four
- 04-03-19
Mesmerizing and Informative
Each story was beautifully told with detail and a heartfelt recap of the individual events of the lives left behind, this was a truly captivating experience. I’m thankful that I stumbled across this particular book, and suggest it to anyone interested in the history of any timeline, or in mental health in general.
1 person found this helpful
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- Teresa
- 11-04-18
Clinical analysis, but interesting
This was interesting, but had a lot statistics. I would have been much more interested if it would’ve elaborated more on the contents of the trunks. Nevertheless, we all need to take a better look at our own community institution’s living conditions and treatment of patients. Poor treatment is still a problem in mental hospitals and nursing homes.
1 person found this helpful
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- gloria stauff
- 03-14-17
Boring
Don't listen to if you are driving. Between the narrator's voice and the subject matter you may not be able to stay awake. Sorry, just one person's opinion.
1 person found this helpful
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- Bradi Kirkpatrick
- 06-27-16
Eaten, still digesting.
I was interested in the topic, and was left feeling saddened that this treatment mirrors patients' experiences to this day. I was propelled forward through the stories of individuals and the common reaction I had, was that of anger.
1 person found this helpful
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- Mary
- 11-14-15
Very very slow moving book
Would you try another book from Darby Penney and Peter Stastny and/or Alex Paul?
Probably not...
What other book might you compare The Lives They Left Behind to and why?
I found the book very slow moving and the narrators voice was very slow as well...I found I could not hold my concentration on what the narrator was saying.
Did Alex Paul do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?
The characters were definitely differentiated by each chapter.
Do you think The Lives They Left Behind needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?
No i do not think this book needs a follow up at all...Not sure what it would say.
1 person found this helpful
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- redheadmomx2
- 11-24-21
Moving
Good and interesting read. Well worth it.!!!!! Very moving and sad but not a well told story
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- Vivian Sternwood
- 05-01-14
Not suitable as an audiobook
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
I would recommend the book, but not the audiobook. The book is a compassionate history of Willard psychiatric hospital "inmates" in the early 20th century based on what the researchers found in the suitcases the patients left behind. I knew there were several pictures in the book which couldn't be included in the audiobook but I didn't anticipate how tedious it would be to listen to all the files being read out.
What was one of the most memorable moments of The Lives They Left Behind?
It is saddening and infuriating at the same time to listen to all the individuall stories ultimately being reduced to one single narrative: in a mental institution like Willard, the individual stories, skills and personalities of the patients didn't (don't) count. I love how the authors did not only re-iterate the facts they found out about the patients but also put them in a wider context, detailing the history of mental health treatment and its current status.
What aspect of Alex Paul’s performance might you have changed?
The performance was okay, Alex Paul is a good reader and has a pleasant voice. His performance wasn't outstanding in any way but the material didn't lend itself to show off the skill of the narrator.
Was The Lives They Left Behind worth the listening time?
In a way it was, because the book is so moving, but I still wish I had bought the paperback instead of the audiobook.
1 person found this helpful
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Story
Its landscaped ground, chosen by Frederick Law Olmsted and dotted with Tudor mansions, could belong to a New England prep school. There are no fences, no guards, no locked gates. But McLean Hospital is a mental institution - one of the most famous, most elite, and once most luxurious in America. Gracefully Insane, by Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam, is a fascinating and emotional biography of McLean Hospital from its founding in 1817 through today.
By: Alex Beam
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What She Left Behind
- By: Ellen Marie Wiseman
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Ten years ago, Izzy Stone's mother fatally shot her father while he slept. Devastated by her mother's apparent insanity, Izzy, now 17, refuses to visit her in prison. But her new foster parents, employees at the local museum, have enlisted Izzy's help in cataloguing items at a long-shuttered state asylum. There, amid piles of abandoned belongings, Izzy discovers a stack of unopened letters, a decades-old journal, and a window into her own past.
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Ug.
- By Marina on 12-30-14
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Damnation Island
- Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York
- By: Stacy Horn
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Today it is known as Roosevelt Island. In 1828, when New York City purchased this narrow, two-mile-long island in the East River, it was called Blackwell's Island. There, over the next hundred years, the city would build a lunatic asylum, prison, hospital, workhouse, and almshouse. Stacy Horn has crafted a compelling and chilling narrative told through the stories of the poor souls sent to Blackwell's, as well as the period's city officials, reformers, and journalists (including the famous Nellie Bly). Damnation Island re-creates what daily life was like on the island....
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Fascinating!
- By tamborine on 08-06-18
By: Stacy Horn
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Bellevue
- Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital
- By: David Oshinsky
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
David Oshinsky, whose last book, Polio: An American Story, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, chronicles the history of America's oldest hospital and in so doing also charts the rise of New York to the nation's preeminent city, the path of American medicine from butchery and quackery to a professional and scientific endeavor, and the growth of a civic institution.
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Fascinating
- By Jean on 12-14-16
By: David Oshinsky
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The South Carolina State Hospital
- Stories from Bull Street
- By: William Buchheit
- Narrated by: Adam Lofbomm
- Length: 3 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Nearly two decades after it closed, the South Carolina State Hospital continues to hold a palpable mystique in Columbia and throughout the state. Founded in 1821 as the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum, it housed, fed, and treated thousands of patients incapable of surviving on their own. The patient population in 1961 eclipsed 6,600, well above its listed capacity of 4,823. By the mid-1990s, the patient population had fallen under 700, and the hospital had become a symbol of captivity, horror, and chaos.
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Couldn’t even get through chapter 2
- By bryn juul on 05-11-22
By: William Buchheit
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Ten Days in a Mad-House
- By: Nellie Bly
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 3 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1887, Nellie Bly had herself committed to the notorious Blackwell's Island insane asylum in New York City with the goal of discovering what life was like for its patients. While there, she experienced firsthand the shocking abuse and neglect of its inmates, from inedible food to horrifyingly unsanitary conditions. Ten Days in a Mad-House established Bly as a pioneering female journalist and remains a classic of investigative reporting.
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Laurel Merlington was the perfect voice to narrate
- By Dana B. on 10-29-16
By: Nellie Bly
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Gracefully Insane
- Life and Death Inside America’s Premier Mental Hospital
- By: Alex Beam
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Its landscaped ground, chosen by Frederick Law Olmsted and dotted with Tudor mansions, could belong to a New England prep school. There are no fences, no guards, no locked gates. But McLean Hospital is a mental institution - one of the most famous, most elite, and once most luxurious in America. Gracefully Insane, by Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam, is a fascinating and emotional biography of McLean Hospital from its founding in 1817 through today.
By: Alex Beam
-
What She Left Behind
- By: Ellen Marie Wiseman
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ten years ago, Izzy Stone's mother fatally shot her father while he slept. Devastated by her mother's apparent insanity, Izzy, now 17, refuses to visit her in prison. But her new foster parents, employees at the local museum, have enlisted Izzy's help in cataloguing items at a long-shuttered state asylum. There, amid piles of abandoned belongings, Izzy discovers a stack of unopened letters, a decades-old journal, and a window into her own past.
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Ug.
- By Marina on 12-30-14
Related to this topic
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Doctor Ice Pick
- By: Claire Prentice
- Narrated by: Chanté McCormick
- Length: 2 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In July 1952, Dr. Walter Freeman arrived at the gates of a West Virginia asylum. In his medical bag he carried two metal picks and a surgical hammer. He had invented a “cheap, easy” ten-minute lobotomy. The press described it as a miracle cure, a new frontier in psychosurgery. That summer, in just twelve days, Freeman lobotomized 228 men, women, and children in West Virginia’s public mental hospitals. His blitzkrieg of brain surgery became known as “Operation Ice Pick,” named after the tools he wielded.
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Excellent Presentation
- By Joseph on 12-01-22
By: Claire Prentice
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True Tales from the Edgar Cayce Archives
- Lives Touched and Lessons Learned from the Sleeping Prophet
- By: Sidney Kirkpatrick, Nancy Kirkpatrick
- Narrated by: Scott R. Pollak
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
There is perhaps no modern psychic more fascinating than Edgar Cayce and no better authors to explore the intricate details and eye-opening stories of the people who received his readings than Sidney and Nancy Kirkpatrick. The Kirkpatricks, with decades of experience and research, take us on a journey into the archives and history of these psychic passages, finding the most interesting case studies and exploring the most astounding results of the Cayce work in so many people's lives.
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You will believe in Cayce if you don't already
- By Larry on 09-18-16
By: Sidney Kirkpatrick, and others
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The Scar
- A Personal History of Depression and Recovery
- By: Mary Cregan
- Narrated by: Mary Cregan
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
At the age of 27, married, living in New York, and working in book design, Mary Cregan gives birth to her first child, a daughter she names Anna. But it’s apparent that something is terribly wrong, and two days later, Anna dies - plunging Cregan into suicidal despair. Decades later, sustained by her work, a second marriage, and a son, Cregan reflects on this pivotal experience and attempts to make sense of it. She weaves together literature and research with details from her own ordeal - and the still visible scar of her suicide attempt....
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An extraordinary contribution!
- By jennifer romine on 03-24-19
By: Mary Cregan
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Strangers to Ourselves
- Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us
- By: Rachel Aviv
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In a powerful and gripping debut, Rachel Aviv raises fundamental questions about how we understand ourselves in periods of crisis and distress. Drawing on deep, original reporting as well as unpublished journals and memoirs, Aviv writes about people who have come up against the limits of psychiatric explanations for who they are. Animated by a profound sense of empathy, Aviv’s exploration is refracted through her own account of living in a hospital ward at the age of six and meeting a fellow patient with whom her life runs parallel—until it no longer does.
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Not What I Expected
- By syndee49 on 10-10-22
By: Rachel Aviv
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The Good Death
- An Exploration of Dying in America
- By: Ann Neumann
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Following the death of her father, journalist and hospice volunteer Ann Neumann sets out to examine what it means to die well in the United States. When Ann Neumann's father was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, she left her job and moved back to her hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She became his full-time caregiver - cooking, cleaning, and administering medications. When her father died, she was undone by the experience, by grief and the visceral quality of dying.
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Ugh, so boring
- By Maranto on 05-13-19
By: Ann Neumann
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Rosemary
- The Hidden Kennedy Daughter
- By: Kate Clifford Larson
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Joe and Rose Kennedy's strikingly beautiful daughter, Rosemary, attended exclusive schools, was presented as a debutante to the queen of England, and traveled the world with her high-spirited sisters. And yet Rosemary was intellectually disabled - a secret fiercely guarded by her powerful and glamorous family.
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HOW VERY SAD....!!!
- By Brian on 10-24-15