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Employing the considerable archaeological and historical skills in her armory, Susan Piddock tries to lift the lid on the lunatic asylums of years gone by. Films and television programs have portrayed them as places of horror where the patients are restrained and left to listen to the cries of their fellow inmates in despair. But what was the world of nineteenth century lunatic asylums really like? Are these images true, or are we laboring under a misunderstanding?

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A Space of Their Own.- The Archaeology of Institutions.- The Archaeology of Lunatic Asylums.- The Changing Face of Insanity and Rise of the Institution.- Constructing the ´Ideal´.- The British Lunatic Asylum: Ideals and Realities.- South Australia and the ´Ideal´ Lunatic Asylum.- Tasmania and the ´Ideal´ Asylum.- The ´Ideal´ Asylum: A World of Difference.- Conclusion: Archaeology and Lunatic Asylums.

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