"Professor Houston draws upon a wide range of contemporary sources, notable asylum documents, and civil and criminal court records, to present unique insights into the issues around madness, including the law of mental incapacity, the written and spoken words of sufferers themselves, and the vocabulary associated with insanity. The links between madness and a range of other issues are explored, including gender, social status, religion and witchcraft, in addition to the attributed causes of derangement such as heredity and alcohol abuse."--Jacket.