Saints, Scholars, and Schizophrenics: Mental Illness in Rural Ireland, Twentieth Anniversary Edition, Updated and Expanded

Having a family friend who is Irish and the family are dealing with a son who was just diagnosed with schizophrenia.This book had some interesting observations.This book was more a journey for answers than facts.Interesting.

This is an extraordinary read and I lived in the town where it was researched. WOW. Totally amazing and well worth the read.

well worth studying this book! Gives examples of the dynamic whole society maintenance of the status quo thru Bateson's Double-Bind theory of schizophrenia.

Fascinating book.

It came in great condition, but a week after my class had finished with the book, so it did not help my grade any.

A superb description and analysis of the pathologies in Irish styles of interaction, conversational and behavioural. Written by an American psycho-anthropologist conducting fieldwork in Ireland. Brings a detached eye to Irish patterns of conversation and communication. Should be required reading for Irish people seeking self understanding and insight into why their culture is how it is. Caused an uproar on publication - a recommendation in iself - not due to sensationalism, but because truth normally buried was painful when it emerged into the light of day.

Saints, Scholars, and Schizophrenics is a good ethnography of the feild work done by Mrs. Hughes. She gives good deffinitions for the translated Irish words used. A good veiw into the life of the isolated mountain regions f the Dingle Peninsula

When I purchased this book as an outside assignment for an ethnography class, I was not aware of the devastating effects the author's fieldwork is still having on the people of An Cochlan. Utterly unethical and reprehensible.

Great read.

a gift

A bit drawn out

It's easy to understand why the people of this rural region in Ireland strongly objected to Scheper-Hughes' conclusions, written after living closely with the community for a year in the 1970s and brought up to date in the latest edition. As an Irish woman living far from my native country, I found "Saints, Scholars and Schizophrenics: Mental Illness in Rural Ireland" absolutely fascinating, at times deeply sad but throughout I recognised behaviour and consequences prevalent in a different region of the island and indeed in other isolated communities in other parts of the world. Scheper-Hughes writes engagingly and brings to life the various personalities so that, once begun, this is a book that is difficult to set aside, with conclusions that stay with the reader long afterwards.

Brilliant book,Schepper Hughes was twenty years ahead of her time.