A New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2024 • A New Yorker Best Book of 2024 New York Times Bestseller • USA Today Bestseller Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Books of the Year • Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best Books In the tradition of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a page-turning ninety-three-year history of Crownsville Hospital, one of the nation’s last segregated asylums, that the New York Times described as "fascinating…meticulous research" and bestselling author Clint Smith endorsed it as "a book that left me breathless." On a cold day in March of 1911, officials marched twelve Black men into the heart of a forest in Maryland. Under the supervision of a doctor, the men were forced to clear the land, pour cement, lay bricks, and harvest tobacco. When construction finished, they beca...

A New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2024 • A New Yorker Best Book of 2024 New York Times Bestseller • USA Today Bestseller Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Books of the Year • Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best Books In the tradition of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a page-turning ninety-three-year history of Crownsville Hospital, one of the nation’s last segregated asylums, that the New York Times described as "fascinating…meticulous research" and bestselling author Clint Smith endorsed it as "a book that left me breathless." On a cold day in March of 1911, officials marched twelve Black men into the heart of a forest in Maryland. Under the supervision of a doctor, the men were forced to clear the land, pour cement, lay bricks, and harvest tobacco. When construction finished, they beca...