Blackwell Island within sight of Manhattan was the dumping ground for New York's poor, diseased, mentally ill and criminals. It was a place where many traveled to and few came back unscathed and housed men, women and children. Over the near century it existed it was a place of abuse, cruelty, torture and unbelievable neglect. Not all the people working there were bad but the majority of them did very little to really help anyone there. The one person who fought for the inhabitants of the island was one of Blackwell's directors, Reverend French but in the face of overwhelming corruption and an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude from politicians, even he was not able to solve all of the problems there. Horn gives us snapshots of some of the more famous trials and a glimpse into the horrors of life there as well as the sensational story of Nellie Bly, who had herself committed to the island to get the real story of what the conditions were like. Interesting read for anyone who enjoys social reform and history of New York in the 19th century. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.