Madness and Civilization A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason

Michel Foucault examines the archeology of madness in the West from 1500 to 1800 - from the late Middle Ages when insanity was still considered part of everyday life and fools and lunatics walked the streets freely to the time when such people began to be considered a threat asylums were first built and walls were erected between the insane and the rest of humanity.