{"product_id":"how-thin-the-veil-a-memoir-of-45-days-in-the-traverse-city-state-hospital-9781943995370","title":"How Thin the Veil: A Memoir of 45 Days in the Traverse City State Hospital","description":"\u003cp\u003eJack Kerkhoff was born to the news. His parents both worked at the \u003cem\u003eGrand Rapids Herald\u003c\/em\u003e, and Jack got an early start at the \u003cem\u003eTraverse City Record-Eagle\u003c\/em\u003e. Bigger papers followed: the \u003cem\u003eDetroit News, New York Journal-American, \u003c\/em\u003eand the \u003cem\u003eNew York Post\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut Kerkhoff's professional success was overshadowed by personal tragedy. His wife died suddenly in 1940 and then his 25-year-old daughter eight years later. Severe depression and two suicide attempts followed. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKerkhoff had done some growing up in the Traverse City area -- his parents owned a home on Old Mission Peninsula -- and he was well aware of the form and function of the State Hospital.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHow many times I had scampered up that driveway with my gang, fearful yet curious. How many times we had wandered outside the bleak, tower-topped buildings that had iron bars at the windows, and shouted at the men and women behind the bars and giggled over the obscenities they tossed back at us.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSo, on a wintery November day, Kerkhoff checked himself into the asylum, hoping that the treatment provided there would lift the veil of sadness.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHow Thin the Veil\u003c\/em\u003e is a 45-day account of Kerkhoff's treatment, his conversations with the nurses and doctors (some of them with their real names), his interactions with the inmates, and his trips to downtown Traverse City watering holes. There's also romance in the form of Suzy, a pretty, lisping waif whose \"bad spells\" had kept her hospitalized for eight years.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1952, \u003cem\u003eHow Thin the Veil \u003c\/em\u003eshines a \"hard-boiled\" light on the mid-century conditions of patients of mental illness. Booze and cigarettes abound. Insulin-shock therapy was in vogue, as was what the patients called \"eloctros.\" However, the overall treatment is ultimately sympathetic and humane. Kerkhoff recovered and returned to work.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRay Minervini, \u003c\/strong\u003e who restored and developed Building 50 of the old Traverse City State Hospital, provides an insider introduction to this classic memoir of mental illness.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Mission Point Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/24\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781943995370\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 338\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.27lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.88d","brand":"Jack Kerkhoff","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42917433475253,"sku":"9781943995370","price":22.06,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_5a08b6a8-bf6c-48d6-a22f-222ee7cf43ca.jpg?v=1687284966","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/how-thin-the-veil-a-memoir-of-45-days-in-the-traverse-city-state-hospital-9781943995370","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}