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Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family
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About This Book
The heartrending story of a midcentury American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science's great hope in the quest to understand the disease. Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don's work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their twelve children perfectly spanned the baby boom: the oldest born in 1945, the youngest in 1965. In those years, there was an established script for a family like the Galvins—aspiration, hard work, upward mobility, domestic harmony—and they worked hard to play their parts. But behind the scenes was a different story: psychological breakdown, sudden shocking violence, hidden abuse. By the mid-1970s, six of the ten Galvin boys, one after another, were diagnosed as schizophrenic. How could all this happen to one family? What took place inside the house on Hidden Valley Road was so extraordinary that the Galvins became one of the first families to be studied by the National Institute of Mental Health. Their story offers a shadow history of the science of schizophrenia, from the era of institutionalization, lobotomy, and the schizophrenogenic mother to the search for genetic markers for the disease, always amid profound disagreements about the nature of the illness itself. And unbeknownst to the Galvins, samples of their DNA informed decades of genetic research that continues today, offering paths to treatment, prediction, and even eradication of the disease for future generations. With clarity and compassion, bestselling and award-winning author Robert Kolker uncovers one family's unforgettable legacy of suffering, love, and hope.
Reviews
"The reporter in Kolker seeks accuracy above all, but there's a notable lack of judgment in the book that feels remarkable in light of the stigma long felt by those who have the condition in their families ..."
"This is a haunting and memorable look at the impact of mental illness on multiple generations."
"destined to become a classic of narrative nonfiction."
"From the name of the Galvins' street to their love of falconry, an exercise in controlling wildness, the material often has an uncanny, novelistic quality."
"In narrating the history of a family whose many unwell members would have a hard time articulating their own experiences, Kolker works towards a common language of the mind."
"Most poignantly, he portrays the impact on the unafflicted children of the brothers' illness, an oppressive emotional atmosphere, and the family's festering secrets."
"Hidden Valley Road vividly conveys not only the inner experience of schizophrenia but its effects on the families whose members are afflicted."
"Kolker has spent hundreds of hours with the Galvins, but they can't tell him."
"...a...feat of empathy and narrative journalism ..."
"Yet it ends in 2017, as a story of hope."
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