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A Legacy of Madness - Recovering My Family from Generations of Mental Illness
by Tom Davis
Hazelden
ISBN 978-1-61649-121-5
Published October 2011 - Softcover - 276 pages - $14.95

Mental illness in whatever form it presents itself, can be a frightening thing to deal with, both for the sufferer as well as for the family.  Tom Davis's account of the mental illness that ran through his family for generations is alarming.  Many of us have seen spits and spots of similar-to-a-lesser-degree-things in our own families, but when it's full-blown and leads to suicide to numerous family members, that's a whole different scenario.  Tom Davis writes beautifully about his troubled mother's death and how he went looking for answers to his own "peculiarities", as well as those of his brother, his father, and grandfather among others.  His story will draw you in from the get-go, and you'll be surprised how much you'll learn.  Learn just as he did as he set out on his journey to try and understand his heritage.  His story is heartbreaking yet encouraging as he upturns hidden mysteries that help him understand his family.  Davis pieces together his family tree as he wanders through more and more information and learns how the family became his family.  What they did before they married each other, where they were from, their social backgrounds, and ultimately, their mental illnesses that is the link.  He fished around the New Jersey suburbs they hailed from and his puzzle slowly started to take shape.
Conclusion - A nicely written account of a deeply and rather alarming personal matter.