Books

Praise for The Lives They Left Behind

"a stunning achievement [that]…illuminates the tragedy of our treatment of those with mental and emotional problems." — Robert Whitaker, author of Mad in America

"The haunting thing about the suitcase owners is that it's so easy to identify with them." — Newsweek

"In their poignant detail the items helped rescue these individuals from the dark sprawl of anonymity." — The New York Times

"[The authors] spent 10 years piecing together a handful of poignant biographical narratives, tracking down medical records, talking to former staff and using artifacts from the suitcases as clues to the lives these patients lived before they were nightmarishly stripped of their identities." — Newsday

The Lives They Left Behind

The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic

By Darby Penney and Peter Stastny, with photographs by Lisa Rinzler

Price: $25.00 Hardcover
13-digit ISBN: 978-1-934137-07-9

More than 400 abandoned suitcases filled with patients' belongings were found when Willard Psychiatric Center closed in 1995 after 125 years of operation. In this fully illustrated social history, they are skillfully examined and compared to the written record to create a moving—and devastating—group portrait of 20th century American psychiatric care.

Darby Penney is a leader in the human rights movement for people with psychiatric disabilities. Peter Stastny is a psychiatrist and documentary filmmaker. Lisa Rinzler is a prize-winning cinematographer.

256 pages / Nonfiction