Meet the Author of "Storming the Gates of Bedlam"

Meet Meredith Platt, author of "Storming the Gates of Bedlam: How Dr. Nathan Kline Transformed the Treatment of Mental Illness," at Bernardsville Public Library on Tuesday, January 28 at 7:00 pm. Ms. Platt will read from her book and talk about her research in writing it.  Books will be available for purchase and signing.

Why would a poet from a wealthy New Jersey family choose to spend his life working in an insane asylum?  Dr. Nathan Kline never revealed the painful secret about his own family that determined his destiny, but that secret is revealed in "Storming the Gates of Bedlam."  Everyone whose life has been touched by mental illness will be interested in how he transformed the treatment of mental illness, emptied asylums across the country, and changed how we think about mental illness. 

Ms. Platt was born in Ridgewood and now lives in Dumont.  She earned a bachelor’s degree from Hunter College and a Ph.D. in biopsychology from the City University of New York.  “This is a very readable book,” she says.  [It] “is a very human story that is an important part of our history.”

There is no charge to attend the program, but advance sign-up is requested.  Register online at www.bernardsvillelibrary.org and follow the link from Adult Programs, or call the library at 908-766-0118 to sign up.