Prairie madness

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For the 1970s band, see Prairie Madness (band).

Prairie madness is a term that describes an affliction that was common in the United States among white settlers of the Great Plains during the mid to late 1800s. Another common (though, technically incorrect) name for the affliction is "Prairie fever." Several famous victims of the disease of the colonial era include George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson. The madness was a result of the extreme isolation experienced by former city dwellers and farmers more used to hilly and forested country. The affected individual would fixate on the fact that they were surrounded by hundreds of miles of prairie land, with no neighbors or anyone to talk to. When the perceived isolation became too much to bear, mental breakdown would occur. Breakdowns induced by prairie madness often led to starvation and suicide.

[edit] References

Sandilands, John (1977) "Prairie Madness" Western Canadian Dictionary and Phrase Book University of Alberta Press, Edmonton, p. 35, ISBN 0-88864-021-8 Western Canadian Dictionary and Phrase Book at Google Books
Brebner, John Bartlet (1960) Canada, a Modern History, Univ of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan, p. 355 OCLC 497697
Robertson, Heather (1973) Grass Roots James Lorimer & Co., Toronto p. 53, ISBN 0-88862-099-3 Grass Roots from Google Books
Silverman, Eliane L. (1984) The Last Best West: women on the Alberta frontier, 1880-1930 Eden Press, Montréal, ISBN 0-920792-29-4
Sterns, Robert (ed.) (2000) "Prairie Madness" Illusions of Eden: Visions of the American Heartland Columbus Museum of Art in partnership with Arts Midwest, Minneapolis, MN, ISBN 0-918881-404