Brewing on Books: Kate Moore & William Buchheit in Conversation

4831 O'Hear Avenue,North Charleston SC 29405

07 July, 2021

Description

Kate Moore (Radium Girls) and William Buchheit (The South Carolina State Hospital) join us to discuss institutionalization, past & present Join us for a community discussion on the Common Ground with Commonhouse Aleworks as part of our new event series, Brewing on Books: A Community Book Club. This series will focus on local topics of interest for community members. For our July meeting, we will look at the history of institutionalization in mental health treatment. In Kate Moore's newest book, The Woman They Could Not Silence, she uncovers the story of Elizabeth Packard, whose husband committed her to an insane asylum (an act that has been found to have been all too common). She will be joined by South Carolina author William Buchheit, whose history of the South Carolina State Hospital in Columbia includes first-person interviews with those who worked there before it was closed in 2015. We're excited to discuss the intersections of these two works of nonfiction and learn about the fascinating history of the mental health field in the United States and South Carolina, specifically. Books are available from Itinerant Literate:The Woman They Could Not Silence (preorder: June 22): https://bit.ly/3f6wdno The South Carolina State Hospital: https://bit.ly/3f8iblu Food & Drink SpecialCommonhouse will be offering a special deal on a themed appetizer and beverage available to attendees of this event. Details on the discount code for the special will be available prior to the event. About the BooksThe Woman They Could Not SilenceA fascinating new story of a woman who changed the world from Kate Moore, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Radium Girls. 1860: As the clash between the states rolls slowly to a boil, Elizabeth Packard, housewife and mother of six, is facing her own battle. The enemy sits across the table and sleeps in the next room. Threatened by Elizabeth's intellect, independence, and outspokenness, her husband of twenty-one years is plotting against her and makes a plan to put her back in her place. One summer morning, he has her committed to an insane asylum. The horrific conditions inside the Illinois State Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois, are overseen by Dr. Andrew McFarland, a man who will prove to be even more dangerous to Elizabeth than her traitorous husband. But most disturbing is that Elizabeth is not the only sane woman confined to the institution. There are many rational women on her ward who tell the same story: they've been committed not because they need medical treatment, but to keep them in line—conveniently labeled "crazy" so their voices are ignored. No one is willing to fight for their freedom, and disenfranchised both by gender and the stigma of their supposed madness, they cannot possibly fight for themselves. But Elizabeth is about to discover that the merit of losing everything is that you then have nothing to lose... The South Carolina State HospitalNearly two decades after it closed, the South Carolina State Hospital continues to hold a palpable mystique in Columbia and throughout the state. Founded in 1821 as the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum, it housed, fed and treated thousands of patients incapable of surviving on their own. The patient population in 1961 eclipsed 6,600, well above its listed capacity of 4,823, despite an operating budget that ranked forty-fifth out of the forty-eight states. By the mid-1990s, the patient population had fallen under 700, and the hospital had become a symbol of captivity, horror and chaos. Author William Buchheit details this history through the words and interviews of those who worked on the iconic campus. About the AuthorsKate MooreKate Moore is the award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Radium Girls. A British writer based in London, she has published numerous Sunday Times bestsellers, writing across various genres including history, biography, true crime, gift and humor. She has written more than fifteen books and her work has been translated into more than 12 languages. William Buchheit For nearly two decades now, William Buchheit has worked as a journalist in Upstate South Carolina. He has won dozens of South Carolina Press Association Awards and was named 2011 "Reporter of the Year" by South Carolina's chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). In recent years, he has become a part-time college English instructor and acclaimed wildlife photographer whose photos of the great white shark have been published by National Geographic and the Smithsonian. This is his first book. He lives in Greer, South Carolina.