Lullaby For Morons: Based on the True Story of America's First School Teacher Murder

by Ronald K. Siegel

In 1914, many people in America were being wrongly diagnosed as "morons". Most were committed to asylums. Some committed suicide. Two were childhood friends who became involved in the tragedy of America's first school teacher murder in Poland, New York. The ensuing trial was held in the same Herkimer courthouse as the Gillette-Brown murder case. The trial, which focused on the violent nature of the crime and the "degenerate" behavior of the defendant, quickly eclipsed the Adirondack murder as Upstate New York's "Trial of the Century." Fast-paced and suspenseful, anchored in historical fact, Lullaby For Morons takes us into a dark age of medical and legal thinking and the even darker paranoid world of misdiagnosed victims struggling to survive.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

306 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2006

About the author

American psychiatrist, research professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles (as recently as 2005), and the author of several noted studies and books on psychopharmacology, hallucination, and paranoia.

Reviews

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sixteen year old Jean Gianini murders his 20 year old teacher and spends the next 76 years “hospitalized” by the State of New York as a “moron.”

A moron is defined by an expert at his trial Dr. Henry Goddard as “the highest class of feebleminded or imbecile; a person having the mental age of between eight and twelve; as in ‘all morons are potential criminals.’” One became a “moron” by masturbating, by being born Jewish or Italian, by having a disability, or seizures.

Noble Zoken, who is Jean’s best friend is also labeled a moron tells Jean’s and his own story. “All morons lack morals. All morons are capable of committing the most heinous and revolting crimes. All morons need to be locked up even if they have not yet committed any crimes.”

This isn't an easy or pleasant read. Reading about the dark ages of "mental health care," "alienists," and misdiagnosed victims of psychiatrists is bleak.

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Come on, what a great title. Alas, the book doesn't live up to it. Interesting review in novel form of 20th century American classes of mental retardation and its treatment - or lack of treatment. In the hands of someone like Eric Larson, this would have been a terrific piece of historical writing.

[Cristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the pacing was somewhat slow, the subject was fascinating to me. I would like to know more about the mentally ill (or who was thought to be) during this time period.

[Janine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rate this book a number 10. Character's were interesting. Based on a true story but a novel. Loved it although a sad story.