The Mask Of Sanity: An Attempt To Clarify Some Issues About The So-Called Psychopathic Personality
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: N/A
Pages: Good
Behind every charming smile and persuasive word, a predator may be hiding in plain sight — this is the disturbing reality that The Mask of Sanity presents with clinical precision and chilling clarity. Psychiatrist Hervey Cleckley, drawing from decades of direct patient observation at the Medical College of Georgia, argues that the psychopathic personality is not the raving lunatic of popular imagination, but rather a composed, intelligent, and deeply deceptive individual who mirrors sanity while remaining fundamentally detached from its moral and emotional foundations. Now in its landmark Fifth Edition, this seminal work chronicles the defining traits of psychopathy — superficial charm, pathological lying, lack of remorse, and an impenetrable emotional shallowness — through vivid, meticulously documented case studies that remain as unsettling as they are enlightening. Cleckley's prose strikes a rare balance between rigorous academic inquiry and compelling narrative, making this one of the most influential texts in the history of forensic psychiatry. His framework laid the intellectual groundwork for modern diagnostic criteria, directly informing later works such as Robert Hare's psychopathy checklist, and its relevance has only deepened in an age of renewed public fascination with antisocial behavior. The Mask of Sanity endures not merely as a psychiatric landmark, but as a profound and troubling meditation on the nature of conscience itself — leaving the reader to wonder how well they truly know the people around them.
Author: Hervey Cleckley
Format: Hardback
Published: 1976, The C. V. Mosby Company
Genre: Psychology
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: N/A
Pages: Good
Behind every charming smile and persuasive word, a predator may be hiding in plain sight — this is the disturbing reality that The Mask of Sanity presents with clinical precision and chilling clarity. Psychiatrist Hervey Cleckley, drawing from decades of direct patient observation at the Medical College of Georgia, argues that the psychopathic personality is not the raving lunatic of popular imagination, but rather a composed, intelligent, and deeply deceptive individual who mirrors sanity while remaining fundamentally detached from its moral and emotional foundations. Now in its landmark Fifth Edition, this seminal work chronicles the defining traits of psychopathy — superficial charm, pathological lying, lack of remorse, and an impenetrable emotional shallowness — through vivid, meticulously documented case studies that remain as unsettling as they are enlightening. Cleckley's prose strikes a rare balance between rigorous academic inquiry and compelling narrative, making this one of the most influential texts in the history of forensic psychiatry. His framework laid the intellectual groundwork for modern diagnostic criteria, directly informing later works such as Robert Hare's psychopathy checklist, and its relevance has only deepened in an age of renewed public fascination with antisocial behavior. The Mask of Sanity endures not merely as a psychiatric landmark, but as a profound and troubling meditation on the nature of conscience itself — leaving the reader to wonder how well they truly know the people around them.