Soon to be a major motion picture, from Brad Pitt and Tony KushnerA Washington Post Best Book of 2015A mid-century doctor’s raw, unvarnished account of his own descent into madness, and his daughter’s attempt to piece his life back together and make sense of her own. Texas-born and Harvard-educated, Dr. Perry Baird was a rising medical star in the late 1920s and 1930s. Early in his career, ahead … late 1920s and 1930s. Early in his career, ahead of his time, he grew fascinated with identifying the biochemical root of manic depression, just as he began to suffer from it himself. By the time the results of his groundbreaking experiments were published, Dr. Baird had been institutionalized multiple times, his medical license revoked, and his wife and daughters estranged. He later received a lobotomy and died from a consequent seizure, his research incomplete, his achievements unrecognized.
Mimi Baird grew up never fully knowing this story, as her family went silent about the father who had been absent for most of her childhood. Decades later, a string of extraordinary coincidences led to the recovery of a manuscript which Dr. Baird had worked on throughout his brutal institutionalization, confinement, and escape. This remarkable document, reflecting periods of both manic exhilaration and clear-headed health, presents a startling portrait of a man who was a uniquely astute observer of his own condition, struggling with a disease for which there was no cure, racing against time to unlock the key to treatment before his illness became impossible to manage.
Fifty years after being told her father would forever be “ill” and “away,” Mimi Baird set off on a quest to piece together the memoir and the man. In time her fingers became stained with the lead of the pencil he had used to write his manuscript, as she devoted herself to understanding who he was, why he disappeared, and what legacy she had inherited. The result of his extraordinary record and her journey to bring his name to light is He Wanted the Moon, an unforgettable testament to the reaches of the mind and the redeeming power of a determined heart.
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I did not quite know what to make of it at first, However, it was very well written and tragically interesting.
What a job this daughter did to bring her father’s accomplishments to life. Without this, we would never have known. And he came so close! I recommend this book.
Very informative those w bi polar went thru a lot back then. Highly recommend.
This book is incredibly well written by a long-time New Yorker writer who lived in Paris for five years with his family. He captures the minutae of Parisian life wonderfully well, and there are always fascinating surprises around the corner.
It’s a very sad revelation to see how we treated those with mental illness in the 1940s. Very rough to read.
Very well written account of a daughters search for her missing for her missing father and his battles with mental illness in a barbaric time
I am 75% done with this book (I’ll finish tonight) and have found it to be very thought provoking. At times it has been difficult to read because I know that it is a true story and I can’t imagine what this poor man went through, along with all of the members of his family. Anyone interested in mental health issues should read this book. I highly recommend it.
A must read for anyone with bipolar disease in their family.