Overview

Autism is the first book on the condition that seeks to combine medical, historical and cultural approaches to an understanding of the condition. Its purpose is to present a rounded portrayal of the ways in which autism is currently represented in the world, It focuses on three broad areas: the facts of scientific research, including new ideas surrounding research into genetics and neuroscience, as well as the details of diagnosis and therapy; the history of the condition as it developed through psychiatric approaches to the rise of parent associations, neurodiversity and autism advocacy; and the fictional and media narratives through which it is increasingly expressed in the contemporary moment. Accessible and written in clear English, Autism is designed for student audiences in English, Disability Studies, Cultural Studies, History, Sociology, and Medicine and Health, as well as medical practitioners and the general reader. Autism is a condition surrounded by misunderstanding and often defined by contestation and argument. The purpose of this book is to bring clarity to the subject of autism across the full range of its manifestations.

Full Product Details

Author:   Stuart Murray
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.410kg
ISBN:  

9780415884983

ISBN 10:   0415884985
Pages:   132
Publication Date:   09 September 2011
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Preface. Part One: The Facts. 1. What we Know… Or Don’t. 2. The body, the brain and the person: biology, neurology and self. 3. The detail of diagnosis. 4. Intervention and treatment: metaphors, objects and subjects. 5. The gender question and the nature of being. 6. Conclusion: after the fact. Part Two: Social, Cultural and Political Histories. 1. Autism before modern medicine. 2. The development of child psychiatry: Kanner and Asperger. 3. Psychoanalysis, Bruno Bettelheim, parents and blame. 4. Organization and Associations. 5. The rise of neurodiversity: demands, advocacy and legislation. 6. Cultural representations: outsider and insider accounts. 7. Conclusion: history in the making. Part Three: Major Controversies. 1. A lack of consensus. 2. Causing Autism. 3. Autism and the idea of the cure. 4. Conclusion: Autism and the human - again. Afterword: Autistic Presence.

Reviews

In this lucid, engaging text, Stuart Murray surveys the many different ways that knowledge about autism has been shaped over more than a century. Autism is an invaluable resource for readers seeking a fully integrated conversation--drawing on medical, sociological, historical, filmic, and literary discourses--about disability and/in culture. --Robert McRuer, English, George Washington University This is the book I wish I had been able to read when I first encountered autism as a parent and as a scholar. Stuart Murray's beautifully written, intellectually profound, and emotionally acute exploration of the medical, social and political worlds of autism is wonderful. Anyone with an interest in or concern for autism, will find their understanding of autism challenged and deepened. --Richard Ashcroft, Bioethics, Queen Mary, University of London School of Law Stuart Murray's concise, readable survey provides us with a superb introduction to the many faceted field of autisim spectrum disorder. His discussion of medical and psychoanalytic scholarship is up to date, but what most recommends his book is his sensitivity to the cultural and social meaning of autism for individuals and their families who live with it. --Michael Davidson, Literature, University of California, San Diego

Autism is currently a hot topic, the subject of intense discussion on the web, in the popular press, among medical researchers, and among scholars in the humanities and social sciences. This beautifully written and authoritative book engages most of the hot-button controversies around autism in a level-headed way, carefully distinguishing between the things we know for sure and the much larger collection of things we are still arguing about. --Joseph Straus, Graduate Center, City University of New York Stuart Murray's Autism offers an effective account of a disorder cast variously as epidemic, postmodern metaphor, media shibboleth, and false positive.a Murray demystifies many of the sources of these current beliefs about human variation while helping us to recognize the continuing exclusion faced by many with neurological differences. --David T. Mitchell, School of Education, Temple University In this lucid, engaging text, Stuart Murray surveys the many different ways that knowledge about autism has been shaped over more than a century. Autism is an invaluable resource for readers seeking a fully integrated conversation--drawing on medical, sociological, historical, filmic, and literary discourses--about disability and/in culture. --Robert McRuer, English, George Washington University

Author Information

Stuart Murray is Professor of Contemporary Literatures and Film and Director of Medical Humanities research in the School of English at the University of Leeds in the UK. He is the author of Representing Autism: Culture, Narrative, Fascination (Liverpool UP, 2008) and a number of articles on disability representation.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions