Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 320
•
Trim: 6⅜ x 9½
978-1-4422-0817-9 • Hardback • January 2011 • $58.00 • (£45.00)
978-1-4422-0819-3 • eBook • January 2011 • $55.00 • (£42.00)
T. Byram Karasu, M.D., a graduate of the Yale School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, is presently the Silverman Professor and University Chairman of the Deparmtent of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Albert Einstien College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center, and the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Psychotherapy. He is the author or editor of 20 books, including two novels, Of God and Madness and The Gotham Chronicles—The Culture of Sociopathy; a book of poetry, Rags of My Soul; the seminal work, Treatments of Psychiatric Disorders; and two best sellers, The Art of Serenity and The Spirit of Happiness. Dr. Karasu is a scholar, renowned clinician, teacher and lecturer, and the recipient of numerous awards. He lives in New York City.
Gotham Chronicles is a stunningly original, soaring achievement. In a poetic narration, Dr. Karasu forces us to confront what is plaguing our nation. This is an audaciously groundbreaking masterpiece—a haunting biography of America.
— Deepak Chopra, Author, The Soul of Leadership
It's a slippery slope from narcissism to sociopathy, as T. Byram Karasu shows deftly in his new, completely captivating story that transcends genre. If ever there was a book that you just couldn't put down, this is it. A mirror to culture, with a central character that you come to love like a daughter gone bad. I felt oddly voyeuristic reading this story filled with characters hollowed out by money and power and acting out in empty, aggressive sex.
— Thomas Moore, Author, Care of the Soul
Gotham Chronicles is a profound, moving exploration of the life of a traumatized, deeply troubled young woman suffering from severely disturbed self-experiences and her problematic relations with significant others. The portrait of Mallory, the heroine of this novel, emerges gradually, viewed from both her inner experiences and from the empty, self-indulging and hostile psychosocial environment within which she tries to survive. With an apparently cool and detached, at times ironic, but, au fond, deeply concerned and empathic approach T. Byram Karasu analyzes the dialectic relationship between a severe personality disorder and a harsh and corrupt culture. This compassionate narrative permits the reader to identify fully with the confusion and suffering of a woman with a fragmented mental life, in the context of a cultural environment with significant deterioration and loss of ethical values.
— Otto F. Kernberg, M.D., Author, Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism, Professor of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College
In an era where Enron, Bernie Madoff, and the Wall Street collapse make headlines, there can be little doubt that the culture of narcissism has undergone an evolutionary transformation into the culture of sociopathy. In this gripping new novel, Byram Karasu examines this phenomenon from the inside out, penetrating into the psyches of an assortment of New York characters on the make. The result is chilling and absorbing.
— Dr. Glen O. Gabbard, Brown Foundation Professor of Psychoanalysis Baylor College of Medicine