History

I have heard loads of different opinions of Hans Asperger in the autistic community, some think he was a saint who saved some autistic children from death and others think he was a murderer who chose which children lived and died.

This book puts Asperger's work into a historical context from pre-war Vienna to Nazi occupied Vienna to post-war Vienna. I contains loads of details, not just about autistic children but also other disabled and wayward children.

The book was shocking and chilling with insights into Nazi era psychiatry where children's worth was measured by their ability to be part of society, children could either be sent for remediation or sent to death.

I learmed a lot from reading this book.

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Not what I expected

Made my hair stand on end, emotions choked, haunting images that will endure forever more.

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2 people found this helpful

Unless you know information previously..

I’m sure this will shock you to great lengths however being aware of the history of asd as a ND person I find information important and when listening to this it was just going over information I already knew however if you want to shock yourself to the core you should look at images of the testing they did on children with shock therapies as behavioural therapies and how that is still done today.

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Harrowing History

Certainly worth listening to but be aware that the content is disturbing. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time.

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beautifully written and excellent account

excellent account and it is clear that the author did an immense amount of research to support the notion that Hans asperger was more complicit in the Nazi regime that it first seemed. would strongly recommend.

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incredible!

I cannot praise this book enough! it's a MUST READ especially if you or someone you know has a diagnosis of Autism.

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Skilfully written and researched, horrific subject matter

The most traumatising thing I’ve ever listened to / read, but very important. Approach with caution / lots of breaks. Every sentence is more upsetting than the one that came before and slightly less so than the one after. It’s genuinely horrific, but again, a book that I as an autistic historian of neurology found deeply necessary.

On another note, I was pleased by the narrator’s perfect pronunciation of German words as I get very annoyed when foreign languages are butchered just because they are interspersed with text that’s primarily in English.

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Outstanding

This book as been really eyeopening for me as a historian and an autistic person, and has really helped me developed my thoughts on the history of psychiatry. Invaluable read.

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Not at all cosy

An excellent, if discomforting, story of Asperger and his diagnosis. The discussion of the role of gemut and nazi philosophy is particularly interesting. All the more so as we live in an age when medical advice and state instruction are again becoming very intertwined.

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Chilling

Very informative book outlining the background of Autism. Very haunting but well written. It took a while to get used to the reader but once I'd adapted it seemed appropriate.

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