{"product_id":"girls-and-their-monsters-the-genain-quadruplets-and-the-making-of-madness-in-america-audrey-clare-farley-hardcover","title":"Girls and Their Monsters: The Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America -- Audrey Clare Farley, Hardcover","description":"\u003cb\u003eFor readers of \u003ci\u003eHidden Valley Road \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003ePatient H.M.\u003c\/i\u003e, an \"intimate and compassionate portrait\" (Grace M. Cho) of the Genain quadruplets, the harrowing violence they experienced, and its psychological and political consequences, from the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Unfit Heiress.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In 1954, researchers at the newly formed National Institute of Mental Health set out to study the genetics of schizophrenia. When they got word that four 24-year-old identical quadruplets in Lansing, Michigan, had all been diagnosed with the mental illness, they could hardly believe their ears. Here was incontrovertible proof of hereditary transmission and, thus, a chance to bring international fame to their fledgling institution. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The case of the pseudonymous Genain quadruplets, they soon found, was hardly so straightforward. Contrary to fawning media portrayals of a picture-perfect Christian family, the sisters had endured the stuff of nightmares. Behind closed doors, their parents had taken shocking measures to preserve their innocence while sowing fears of sex and the outside world. In public, the quadruplets were treated as communal property, as townsfolk and members of the press had long ago projected their own paranoid fantasies about the rapidly diversifying American landscape onto the fair-skinned, ribbon-wearing quartet who danced and sang about Christopher Columbus. Even as the sisters' erratic behaviors became impossible to ignore and the NIMH whisked the women off for study, their sterling image did not falter. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eGirls and Their Monsters \u003c\/i\u003echronicles the extraordinary lives of the quadruplets and the lead psychologist who studied them, asking questions that speak directly to our times: How do delusions come to take root, both in individuals and in nations? Why does society profess to be \"saving the children\" when it readily exploits them? What are the authoritarian ends of innocence myths? And how do people, particularly those with serious mental illness, go on after enduring the unspeakable? Can the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood help the deeply wounded heal?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Audrey Clare Farley\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Grand Central Publishing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/13\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 304\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.15lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.70h x 6.50w x 1.80d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781538724477\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/06\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/15\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/01\/2023 pg. 4\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAudrey Clare Farley\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Unfit Heiress\u003c\/i\u003e, a page-turning drama about reproductive rights and eugenics framed by the story of Ann Cooper Hewitt, as well as a writer, book reviewer, and historian of twentieth-century American literature and culture. Having earned a PhD in English from University of Maryland, College Park in 2017, she occasionally lectures in history and literature at local universities. Her essay on Cooper Hewitt, published in July 2019 in \u003ci\u003eNarratively\u003c\/i\u003e, was the publication's second most-read story of the year. Her writing on the eugenics movement and other topics has appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New Republic, Public Books, Lady Science, Longreads\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eMarginalia Review of Books, \u003c\/i\u003e where she is a contributing editor. She lives in Hanover, Pennsylvania.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Audrey Clare Farley","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44338044731620,"sku":"9781538724477","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0611\/9587\/8628\/files\/9781538724477.jpg?v=1719481210","url":"https:\/\/bookandmortar.com\/products\/girls-and-their-monsters-the-genain-quadruplets-and-the-making-of-madness-in-america-audrey-clare-farley-hardcover","provider":"BookandMortar","version":"1.0","type":"link"}