Autism is old and unruly. It's been a part of us since we first left handprints on cave walls 40,000 year s ago. Autism and Us: Old as Time covers a long-stretch view of its neurological history and how society has judged it. With quotes from old medical records, folk-tale beliefs, and Victorian literature, the book conjures up the 19th century mix of ignorance, cruelty, fumbling knowledge, and surprising love that led to the first medical recognition of autism as a social disorder. From that medically significant recognition has grown our present day neurological and cognitive understanding.

A Thorn in My Pocket is Eustacia Cutler's story of raising her daughter, Temple Grandin, in the conservative "Leave-it-to-Beaver" world of the fifties: a time when children with autism were routinely diagnosed as infant schizophrenics and banished to institutions. She tells of her fight to keep Temple in the mainstream of family, community and school life, how Temple responded and went on to succeed-as Ms. Cutler puts it, "beyond my wildest dreams." Ms. Cutler also explores the nature of the autism disorder as doctors understand it today, and how its predominant characteristics reflect our own traits in an exaggerated form.