The Best Specimen of a Tyrant

Dr. Abraham Van Norstrand was a newcomer to the so-called "Hospital Movement”, perhaps the boldest public policy innovation of its time, one whose leaders believed that they could achieve what had long been regarded as impossible, to cure the insane. The story of Van Norstrand's rise and fall is also the story of the clash between the great expectations and hard choices that have bedevilled public mental hospitals from the beginning.