The Price of Greatness Resolving the Creativity and Madness Controversy

Exploring the lives and achievements of over 1,000 extraordinary men and women, this book offers answers to the age-old questions about the relationship between mental illness and greatness, and also reveals factors that predict creative achievement. The book is filled with colorful stories about many of the most eminent artists, scientists, social activists, politicians, soldiers, and business people of our time.

Arnold M. Ludwig is the E.A. Edwards Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. He is the former winner of the prestigious Hofheimer Prize Award given by the American Psychiatric Association for his research on alcoholism and LSD. He is the author of seven books and over 100 articles or book chapters, covering such topics as altered states of consciousness, schizophrenia, hysteria, cravings, disability, sensory overload, and the nature of the self. His investigations over the past ten years have focused on the relationship of mental illness to creative achievement, as well as the nature of greatness.