The Protest Psychosis: How Schizophrenia Became a Black Disease, by Jonathan Metzl.
Mr. Metzl is undefeated in my library. This book was such an incredible account of how culture and time periods work together to influence perceptions and definitions. Perhaps the most shocking thing I learned reading this was that DSM-II was published during the civil rights era, and that its definition of schizophrenia was heavily influenced by the protests Black Americans were leading at that time. Medicine and culture worked together to pathologize these protests—altering the perception of Blackness in the process—and attached the labels of “crazy” and “violent” to the Black people charging these protests as a way to regain control of the power structures minorities were trying to disrupt in the 1960s. It was a stunning book full of data. I’ll take whatever Metzl gives me.