Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness

“This book tells two stories. The first is Mike’s. The second describes what I learned during a yearlong investigation inside Miami-Dade County jail in Miami, Florida, a city that’s home to a larger percentage of mentally ill residents than any other major metropolitan area in America.”

Earley spells out his rationale behind the braided structure of the book. He sees Mike’s story as inseparable from a larger understanding of criminal justice and mental health within American society. Reading Mike’s story alongside the stories of others allows for a more holistic understanding of a complicated set of issues.

“It was 2 p.m. now, and during the past twenty-four hours I’d watched Mike slip deeper and deeper into his own delusional world. Because it was his mind that was sick, I was being told that I had to back off and leave him to leave him to face his madness alone. I had to watch as he gradually continued to lose all touch with reality.”

As a father and journalist, Earley struggles with feeling helpless when confronted by his son’s bipolar disorder. By allowing us access to his own sense of vulnerability, Earley gives valuable context and personal stakes for writing Crazy. From this moment on, Mike serves as a motivational force for Earley’s investigations. In addition, opening the book with Mike’s story gives readers who may not know or have experienced someone struggling with their mental health a way to better empathize with and understand the rest of Earley’s reporting.

“I couldn’t answer most of her ‘whys.’ My son had been psychotic. How do you explain the actions of a mentally ill person? But I apologized again, and then again.”

When Earley attempts to apologize to the family victimized by his son’s erratic behavior, he finds it difficult to make them understand how his son’s mental illness was outside of anyone’s control. This lack of sympathy, and the shaming of parents like Earley, underlie many of the tensions Earley ends up exploring in his reporting in Miami.