List of Plates.
Acknowledgements.
1. The Background to the Study.
2. The Life and Times of Hugh Blair.
3. Understanding Mental Incapacity in the Past.
4. Autism and its Relevance to the Case of High Blair.
5. Reading the Court Case as a Clinical Case.
6. Historical-clinical Approach to the Case of Hugh Blair.
Notes.
Glossary of Historical Terms.
Glossary and Topics in Autism.
Further Historical Reading.
Further Reading on Autism.
Index.
Rab Houston is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of St Andrews. He has extensive research experience in the social history of Britain and Europe in the early modern period. Best known for his work on seventeenth and eighteenth-century Scotland, his published books include Madness and Society in Eighteenth-Century Scotland.
Uta Frith is a Professor of Cognitive Development at University College of London and Deputy Director of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University College of London. She has pioneered investigations into the mind of the individual with autism and has a keen interest in the impact of the disorder on both sufferer and carers. Her book, Autism: Explaining the Enigma has been translated into many languages.
"I found this book utterly absorbing and utterly convincing. The
richness of historical detail - testimonies and actual
interrogations - and its telling hold one like a novel. The minute
sifting of the evidence is in the best historico-clinical
tradition, weighing everything carefully, never overstating or
pushing. The interest spreads in all directions - about the way the
law, the culture, and ordinary people thought of mental incapacity
or madness in the eighteenth century. I think Autism in History
will be extremely valuable in many different ways." Oliver Sacks
M.D. Author of Awakenings
"The authors guide us through the case with an expert hand, in a
book written for a wide range of non-specialist readers. What's
more, the book constitutes a unique introduction to autism,
presenting both its scientific and clinical aspects, as well as the
person and their social circumstances. A stimulating read."
Infancia y Aprendizaje, vol 24(2), 2001.
"Rab Houston and Uta Frith provide a splendid case study of
probably autism from eighteenth-century Scotland. Houston and Frith
are to be congratulated in their synthesis of the evidence for Hugh
Blair of Borgue being a case of autism in history. They have done
so in a manner and style that is as cautious as it is thorough."
Stephen Jones, Norfolk Mental Health Care Trust, Social History of
Medicine, vol 14 (2), 2001.
"This is a fascinating book." RH Campbell, Transactions, Vol 75,
2001
"In presenting Hugh Blair, a member of the landowning class in
eighteenth-century Scotland, Autism in History demonstrates a
refreshing lack of squeamishness ... Although Houston and Frith
conclude confidently that they are looking at a case of the same
condition we now call autism, they remain sensitive to the ways
that historical conditions could influence the perception or
presentation of the disorder. In addition, Houston and Frith amass
convincing data to show that Blair was, in fact, autistic. It might
be possible to quibble with their retrospective diagnosis, but they
make a highly plausible case." Jonathan Sadowsky, Castele Associate
Professor of Medical History, Case Western Reserve University,
Journal of the History of the Behavioural Sciences, Fall 2003
Ask a Question About this Product More... |