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Nathaniel Lachenmeyer
THE OUTSIDER: More Review Excerpts

"A heartrending portrait."

--Publishers Weekly

"A powerful memoir."

--Booklist

"Part detective story, part therapeutic memoir, The Outsider combines the
dispassionate tone of a good reporter with the clear-eyed compassion for the
father he lost."

--The Globe and Mail
THE OUTSIDER: Reader Quotes
"How does a man with a Ph.D. in sociology end up as a homeless vagrant with paranoid
schizophrenia?  His son wondered too, and this is his poignant and painful story.  It is a
well-written and brave account that reminds us of the faces behind the masks of the
homeless.   Highly recommended."

--E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., Executive Director, Stanley Foundation Research Programs,
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Research Institute, and author of Surviving
Schizophrenia


"A gripping and unusual story. It throws into sharp relief the suffering inflicted on a
brilliant and gentle man by mental illness. Written with understanding, compassion and
love, this is an extraordinarily moving book that has made a deep impression on me. It
should be compulsory reading for high school students as well as the adult population."

--Jane Goodall

"The Outsider is a truly wonderful book--a haunting, poignant story of a son's life with,
and without, his father.  In a mature and fascinating rendering, Lachenmeyer describes
the gradual, bewildering, and relentless transformation of his father from a brilliant
sociology professor to a frightening victim of paranoid schizophrenia and alcoholism.  
Lachenmeyer presents a rare and moving portrait of one of life's major struggles--the
devastation created by severe mental illness."

--John M. Oldham, M.D., former Director, New York State Psychiatric Institute

"This brilliantly written book will grip the reader and do much to contribute to the
understanding and destigmatization of mental illness."

--Marylou Selo, President, Werner Alfred Selo Foundation; board member, National
Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression
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