The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau - Psychiatry and the Law in the Gilded Age (Paperback, New edition)

The trial of Charles Julius Guiteau for the murder of President Garfield in 1881 is today almost forgotten. In this carefully documented book, subtitled Psychiatry and Law in the Gilded Age, a medical historian writes of crime and trial, and contrasts American psychiatry of the time with today's ideas. The murder stemmed from a split in the Republican party which the president, Garfield, a stout, bearded nonentity of "average probity" was unable to heal. Guiteau, his assassin, a fanatical Republican, believed that God wanted him to reunite the Republicans by killing Garfield, which he did on July 2, 1881, shooting the president in the back in a Washington railway station: surrendering at once, he declared he had committed no crime as his action was dictated by God. On September 19 Garfield died. Guiteau, termed a monster of vice, would today be considered a paranoid schizophrenic and never brought to trial, but in 1881 the country demanded that he hang and the Washington district attorney was happy to oblige. The trial turned into a tourist attraction. Witnesses for the prosecution, insane asylum super-intendents, quoted the "McNaughten Rule" as proof of Guiteau's sanity and guilt; doctors of a new school called "neurologists" testified that as a victim of heredity insanity Guiteau was insane and without "criminal responsibility." With this statement Guiteau, his own assistant counsel, disagreed violently, contending that he was sane and guided only by God, lecturing everyone and disrupting the proceedings.... A solid, factual book, primarily for doctors, medical and legal historians, rather than the average reader and fully substantiated with notes and index. (Kirkus Reviews)

In this brilliant study, Charles Rosenberg uses the celebrated trial of Charles Guiteau, who assassinated President Garfield in 1881, to explore insanity and criminal responsibility in the Gilded Age. Rosenberg masterfully reconstructs the courtroom battle waged by twenty-four expert witnesses who represented the two major schools of psychiatric thought of the generation immediately preceding Freud. Although the idea that genetics could play a role in behavior was just beginning to take hold in their day, these psychiatrists fiercely debated whether heredity had predisposed Guiteau to assassinate Garfield. Rosenberg's account allows us to consider one of the classic moments in the controversy over the criminal responsibility of the insane, a debate that still rages today.

General

Imprint:	University of Chicago Press
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	mersion: Emergent Village resources for communities of faith
Release date:	October 1995
First published:	October 1995
Authors:	Charles E. Rosenberg
Dimensions:	22 x 14 x 2mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	308
Edition:	New edition
ISBN-13:	978-0-226-72717-2
Categories:	Books > Law > Laws of other jurisdictions & general law > Criminal law Books > Humanities > History > World history > 1750 to 1900 Books > Humanities > History > American history > General Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Crime & criminology > Causes & prevention of crime Books > Social sciences > Psychology > Philosophy & theory of psychology > Behavioural theory (Behaviourism) Books > History > American history > General Books > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > History > World history > 1750 to 1900 Promotions
LSN:	0-226-72717-3
Barcode:	9780226727172

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