Hear All The Bells

In a word, Hear All The Bells is unexpected. The memoir takes the topic of mental illness, so alien and frightening to many people, and makes it accessible. Specifically, Hear All The Bells gives the reader a view below the surface of manic depressive illness, also called bipolar disorder.

Although the book is sometimes painful and disorienting, Hear All The Bells tells an optimistic, engaging, and deeply personal story. The reader becomes a co-traveler on a strange journey, experiencing the world through the eyes of someone in the extreme states of mania, depression, psychosis, and addiction.

This sometimes surreal journey travels from Civil War battlefields to mountaintop removal coal mines, from the Old Jamestown colonial settlement to psychiatric wards and 12 Step rooms. Along the way, Hear All The Bells demonstrates the twin realities of manic depression: it is both destructive and potentially enlightening-ultimately a deeply human experience.

For families, friends, and professionals who work with people who experience extreme moods, these are invaluable insights. For people living with mental conditions, Hear All The Bells tells a hopeful story of recovery and possibility.

Ultimately, the book charts a pathway out of chaos, seeking a more stable state in which the insights of those extreme experiences can be incorporated into a creative, vibrant life.

Although Hear All The Bells is primarily a memoir, it touches on the many justice issues surrounding mental illness, including the mass incarceration of people with mental conditions, unequal access to health care, and the historic stigmatization of people with mental illness. Hear All The Bells seeks change and healing, for individuals, yes, and also for the broader human society.