2018

Honorable Mention: Ana Antic
Title: Therapeutic Fascism: Experiencing the Violence of the Nazi New Order (Oxford University Press)

Ana Antic’s Therapeutic Fascism. Experiencing the Violence of the Nazi New Order offers a fresh perspective on the ways in which World War II transformed Yugoslav society. The book is based on highly original, interdisciplinary readings of heretofore unexamined archival sources: the case files and institutional archives of the two largest psychiatric medical institutions in Yugoslavia at that time. Reading nearly 1000 such case studies from primarily lower class (peasant and worker) patients, the author thoughtfully wrestles with the ways in which doctors sought to understand and control or help the patients, as well as what the actual experiences of these patients might have been. This analysis enhances our understanding of how Yugoslav society was transformed by the violence of World War II.

Winner: Natalia Roudakova