Since reading The Great Pretender by Susannah Clark and hearing about Nellie Bly's exposé on mental institutions in the late 1800s, I have been equally fascinated and horrified by the ease with which women ended up in mental institutions. Hence, I was very interested in Nielsen's book the moment I saw it. Her tale of Anna Ott definitely helped elucidate my understanding. Thanks to the University of Illinois Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

During 2020 I became more and more interested in exploring various historical female perspectives. Where the origin for this lies I'm not entirely sure, but I have come to realize that sometimes the detailed view of one particular life can give you an impression of the larger issues at play during any particular time. When reading about, for example, women's rights or civil rights, it can happen that the larger implications are hard to understand unless they're personified. As a kid I was aware women hadn't had the right I enjoyed previously, but I didn't quite understand the indignity behind it until my grandmother shared some of her own experiences. Similarly, the atrocities of slavery and segregation can be known but made more acute through direct, personal narratives. For me, Money, Marriage, and Madness was one of those reads that brought a slice of history a little closer.

Anna Ott was definitely a fascinating woman. She was many things to many different people. A female doctor in a time when they were very rare on the ground. A mother. A wife, a divorcee, and then a wife again, this time to an abuser. Of immigrant origins. Highly educated. Determined. Beleaguered. Declared insane. Reading through her life story, with all its ups and downs brought together expertly by Kim E. Nielsen, you can't help but end up feeling an affinity for her. It is hard to tell whether she would have thrived in a more permissible society, but it was clear that she chafed at the constant impositions placed on her aspirations. Whether it was traveling abroad, running her own doctor's practice, or suing her second husband for divorce multiple times, playing by the rules was not in her interest. When she was finally sent to the Wisconsin State Hospital for the Insane, less is known about her except for steady receipts showing her making life as comfortable as possible for herself. The fact she ended up there at all is rage-inducing and Nielsen doesn't shy away from any of the facts. Insane asylums were convenient storing places for wives and daughters who had become a nuisance and you'd be amazed to find out just how long that went on and who can be accused of doing so. (Looking at you, Charles Dickens!). Money, Marriage, and Madness shows the lives of many through the life of Anna Ott and thereby grants us all a very important insight.

Kim E. Nielsen does a brilliant job piecing together the life of a woman who only exists to us in scraps. As she states in her introduction, it is not truly possible to know what exactly was going on as women's lives, especially the lives of those who ended up insane asylums, weren't exactly recorded. So Nielsen works of court documents, newspaper clippings, receipts, anything she can find. From this she crafts a thorough narrative that both informs on Anna Ott and uses Anna Ott to explain the wider circumstances for American women in the 1800s. As mentioned earlier, it can be hard to really understand the limitations upon women until you see them laid out so clearly as in this book. You will rage and you will be exasperated, and then you will be grateful to all the previous feminists for what they've done. And then you'll look around and see what is still going on and be outraged all over again. But that is the point of history, to see how things repeat themselves but also to see how a cycle can be broken. I'm very grateful for authors like Nielsen who put the effort into shining a light into the recesses of forgotten history and salvage what they can. Despite its topic, Money, Marriage, and Madness is a joy to read and never feels like dry history. As far as historical biographies go, Nielsen created a winner that will be sure to inform and engage many.

Anyone with an interest in the opportunities for and limitations on women will find Money, Marriage, and Madness a fascinating read. Well-written and well-researched, Nielsen's biography brings a forgotten woman to life.

# Money, Marriage, and Madness: The Life of Anna Ott by # Kim E. Nielsen. Anna Ott died in the Wisconsin State Hospital for the Insane in 1893. She enjoyed status and financial success. First as a physician's wife and then as the only female doctor in Madison.Throughout her first marriage, attempts to divorce her abusive second husband, and twenty years of institutionalization.
Thank you,
# Netgalley, # Kim E. Nielsen, and # University of Illinois Press for the advanced copy

With all of the recent focus on women's history and how the efforts of so many brilliant women were wasted and ignored, how have I never heard of Anna Ott? Kim E Nielson introduces us to a woman whose contributions to her community and her science could have been so much more if she had been born 100 years later.

So many younger women can not believe what history has shown them of the treatment given to any woman who dared exhibit talents and skills that could threaten the men surrounding her. Dr Ott's life can serve to reinforce the many periods of history that she struggled through to finally end in a mental institution when she questioned the system that kept her "in her place". Ms Nielsen has written her story with such feeling that you immediately are angry at the men in Dr Ott's life. This is truly an excellent read and an excellent trip through a period in American history that bears witness to the progress we have made.

*Many thanks to Kim E. Nielsen, University of Illinois Press, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
A superbly researched book on the life of a woman who showed ambition and strength in the mid-19th century America, and who became a patient in an asylum by her second husband owing to alleged claims of insanity. Dr Ott's life showed how difficult it was for a woman to pursue a passion and take up economic enterprises.
I truly appreciate the effort Ms Nielsen put into writing this non-ficiton given how scant the information was.

Yet another woman’s life rescued from undeserved obscurity. I’d never heard of Anna Ott and I wager that not many other people have either. But what a life hers was. Highly educated, she was the first female doctor in Madison, Wisconsin, but her personal life went horribly wrong and she ended up being institutionalised. This is a truly fascinating book on so many levels – women’s personal and professional lives, social mores and preconceptions, the medical profession, treatment of the mentally ill, marriage and the patriarchy. It’s a great read for anyone interested in social history, women’s and gender studies, or just those who want to learn about one woman’s life.

I had never heard of the subject of this book before, but that did not take away at all from my enjoyment of it - in fact, it probably helped, because I had no prior knowledge or expectations for what was about to unfold.

The book is extremely well researched in my opinion, and it's a topic that needs to be discussed more widely, so I am glad that this book is here to add to the conversation. The writing is fantastic too, so combined with the pacing and the research, there's not much to complain about with this book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the area of women's rights and feminism, and how this has evolved over the centuries. I was glad to be able to read an advance copy, thanks Netgalley!

So well written so involving.I had never heard Of Ann Ott the authors research brought her alive had me heartbroken for all she went through.Absolutely terrific read.#netgalley#uofillinoispress

What an amazing book. I never would have sought it out if I hadn't received an advance copy but I'm so glad I found it. Highly recommended.

Informative but the writing style was dense, did not flow well, and did not capture my interest. I got bored some time in the second chapter and gave up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is a fascinating book for so many reasons. The author did an amazing amount of research for this book. I wish there were more records of information on Anna Ott to fill in the gaps but it just doesn't seem to exist. Great job to the author for writing this important book.

WOW! Let me double up that WOW! This book packs a punch to the gut. I wanted to scream at Dr Anna Ott, I wanted to scream at the patriarchy, I wanted to scream at her time period, this book takes me through a FLOOD of emotions.
The book is well written, well thought out, and well researched. Like the author notes in the prologue, it was difficult to know exactly what all was going on and what was happening in Dr. Ott's life, but what little evidence there is....is SHOCKING!
I had to put the book down at times because of the violence within.
This book should be recommended reading for all PEOPLE who are interested in women's rights, the evolution of women's rights, and domestic violence.
Bravo to the author for taking up and researching this difficult and elusive subject!