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

Pete Earley prefaces the book with his own blind spot: Despite his decades of work as a journalist reporting on stories dealing with crime and society, he had no idea how difficult it was for the mentally ill to navigate medical, legal, and support services. He provides the reader with context for the book by providing both his personal experience and larger societal context. Earley documents discussions with his son, Mike, about the ethics of writing and reporting on his son’s story, and his son’s support of his father’s decision to write about his struggles. In addition, Earley spells out his intention to tell two stories over the course of the book: his son’s as well as that of his yearlong investigation following people incarcerated in, and orbiting around, the Miami-Dade County Jail.

In this section we see Mike’s descent into mental illness, beginning with his erratic behavior while attending college in Brooklyn. Earley notices when Mike begins suffering from insomnia and displaying odd behavior, including inviting homeless men to come eat with him, wandering the streets of New York City for hours at a time, becoming convinced he is being sent messages through a movie called Heaven and Earth, crashing his parents’ car, and fixating on a childhood acquaintance to an alarming degree.