“A magnificent gift to those of us who love someone who has a mental illness…Earley has used his considerable skills to meticulously research why the mental health system is so profoundly broken.”—Bebe Moore Campbell, author of 72 Hour Hold
Former Washington Post reporter Pete Earley had written extensively about the criminal justice system. But it was only when his own son—in the throes of a manic episode—broke into a neighbor's house that he learned what happens to mentally ill people who break a law.
This is the Earley family's compelling story, a troubling look at bureaucratic apathy and the countless thousands who suffer confinement instead of care, brutal conditions instead of treatment, in the “revolving doors” between hospital and jail. With mass deinstitutionalization, large numbers of state mental patients are homeless or in jail-an experience little better than the horrors of a century ago. Earley takes us directly into that experience—and into that of a father and award-winning journalist trying to fight for a better way.
Praise for Crazy
“A combination of old-fashioned muckraking and genuine empathy...an important manifesto.” —The Washington Post Book World
“Parents of the mentally ill should find solace and food for thought in [this book’s] pages.”—Publishers Weekly
“A case for major policy reform...a harrowing account of a father trying to obtain treatment for his adult son.”—San Antonio Express News
“Crazy is a godsend. It will open the minds of many who make choices for the mentally ill. Countless numbers of us owe Pete Earley and his son Mike a great debt.”—Patty Duke
