Asylum on the Hill: History of a Healing Landscape Hardcover – Illustrated, February 12, 2012

Author, Katherine Ziff has done a remarkable thing in this book "Asylum on the Hill History of a Healing Landscape". She has written a well researched and engaging book that appeals to a wide range of readers. There is something in it for anyone who is interested in Psychology, Sociology, History, Economics, Agriculture and Politics. I was mainly drawn to this book for the information on the "moral treatment" of people with mental illnesses which had it's heyday in the latter part of the 19th century . I always wondered how it came about and why it faded out so quickly. This book gives an excellent overview of how it all unfolded. Many good ideas, which spring from the noblest of intentions eventually are undone by their own success, human failings or changing political and economic forces. It is a tragic tale." Moral treatment" for the mentally ill was a nationwide movement and there were Thomas Kirkbribe designed institutions in nearly every state, Ohio had five. The asylum in Athens is one of the few surviving "Kirkbrides" and one of the only ones to be successfully re-purposed by Ohio University and saved from the wrecking ball. The story of the "Athens Lunatic Asylum" as it was known for a time, is fascinating and big enough to fill many books. Once I started reading, I could not put it down and once I finished it, I found myself wishing that the kind of visionaries, who originated such undertakings, in the world, were among us now.

I don't think most people would like this book, as it's really a fairly dry documentation of the history of the facility. Think of the sections of the Bible that are filled with "begats". I've seen this place when it was operating as an asylum, and it is one of the most frightening places I've ever seen or imagined. It's like a horror movie location, with steep, winding roads, dark brick buildings covered in ivy, and an eerie sense of awful things that took place here. None of that creepiness made it into the book.

Ziff does a fine job making the past come to life in this book. I am not extremely interested in history, but it was overall an easy and pleasant read. The only thing that bothered me a bit was the repetition of some of the information. There are chapters relating to each of the aspects of the asylum and mental health, and in many cases the information is used in more than one of the chapters. Overall, I am very pleased with Ziff's book Asylum on the Hill; and if you get the chance, I would also recommend visiting the truly gorgeous property in Athens, Ohio.

My dad was hit by a car in front of the asylum in 1922! He wasn't hurt but it tore his coat! I was in the building to see a patient and I found it very intimidating! I have not read the book yet because my daughter saw it first and took it home. But, it looked really interesting. I can't wait.

This is. Fascinating history of the Athens, OH Asylum. A must read for history buffs and those curious about the treatment of the mentally ill in the late 1800s.

Formerly being from Athens, this book was especially interesting to me. Back in the 1950s-60s the grounds were open for the public. As children we often went there to fish in the pond and have picnics. It used to frighten us when we got close to the patient buildings and could see people/patients looking at us from the grilled windows. The old stigma of fearing "crazy" people? The book brought back a lot of memories.

A more comprehensive presentation of past-age psychiatric institutions, practices, practitioners, and patients is hard to imagine. Ms. Ziff has researched a masterpiece for conception, which her writing "orchestrates" for the reader as "audience of envisionment".. The scope of the facts and data within the expanse of depiction and description -- well, what can I say beyond . . .add another star!

This book reviews the History of the (a) mental institution in a more historically acurate way than the horror stories.There really was a time when the patients were treated as well as possible given the state of the science and this book reflects that.