A Pulitzer Prize Finalist

In this magisterial study of the relationship between illness and art, the best-selling author of An Unquiet Mind brings a fresh perspective to the life and work of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Lowell. In his poetry, Lowell put his manic-depressive illness (now known as bipolar disorder) into the public domain, and in the process created a new and arresting language for madness. Here Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison brings her expertise in mood disorders to bear on Lowell&;s story, illuminating not only the relationships between mania, depression, and creativity but also how Lowell&;s illness and treatment influenced his work (and often became its subject). A bold, sympathetic account of a poet who was&;both despite and because of mental illness&;a passionate, original observer of the human condition.