Madness and Civilization

Madness and Civilization traces how Western society has historically defined, treated, and silenced those labeled “mad.” Foucault examines shifting perceptions—from medieval tolerance to the harsh confinements of the Enlightenment—as institutions replaced compassion with control. Rather than a clinical history, it’s a philosophical excavation of power, reason, and exclusion. The book challenges what we think we know about sanity, revealing how civilization often creates its own madness.