The author, a well known activist, writer and psychiatrist, played a significant role in the community mental health movement of the 60s and 70s. The book describes its antecedents and subsequent destruction against the social, economic and political events of recent American history. As a practitioner of 16 years in a low-income, immigrant community, he tells vivid stories which demonstrate how poverty drives people crazy and how the prevention and control of mental illness requires community organization, pollution control, jobs and housing as much as case finding and treatment. Documented with research and personal experience, the book is also a critique of biological psychiatry with its emphasis on genetic etiologies and reliance on drugs. It warns against privatization, managed care and the continued medical hegemony of mental health as part of current models of health care "reform." Call or write for information to order: Dymphna Press, Box 44, Belmont, MA 02178. 617-489-2126.