This Fragile Life: A Mother's Story of a Bipolar Son - Softcover

""This Fragile Life" is an extraordinarybook. . . . compelling, piercing, and informative. Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and author of "An Unquiet Mind" """""

""This Fragile Life" is an extraordinarybook . . . . compelling, piercing, and informative. Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and author, "An Unquiet Mind""

"Vigorously written, brave, and candid . . . a deeply moving, instructive account of embattled lives and loves striving for order in the face of a heartbreaking mental illness." Arnold Rampersad, author, "Ralph Ellison "and "The Life of Langston Hughes""

"This Fragile Life is an extraordinarybook . . . . compelling, piercing, and informative. Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and author, An Unquiet Mind

"

"[An] eloquent dialogue of mother and son, poetry and prose, sickness and healing, fury and acceptance, fear and hope, life and death, and, foremost, author and reader." Cathy N. Davidson, author, Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn

"

"With brilliance and tremendous courage, Charlotte Pierce-Baker travels where no other autobiography about mental illness has gone before in terms of discussing issues of a family shattered by the bipolar disorder of their son: race, fear, love, loss and healing. This Fragile Life is a testament to a family forced to cope with mental illness, a unique journey and an emotional triumph. Every family affected with mental illness should read[this] magnificent book." Andy Behrman, author, Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania

"

"Vigorously written, brave, and candid . . . a deeply moving, instructive account of embattled lives and loves striving for order in the face of a heartbreaking mental illness." Arnold Rampersad, author, Ralph Ellison and The Life of Langston Hughes

"

"Illuminating and brilliant, with poetry and prose, mother and son lay bare the ravages of bipolar disorder and the journey toward growth and understanding. A touching, lyrical memoir." Jewell Parker Rhodes, award-winning author, Voodoo Dreams and Douglass' Women"

"Charlotte Pierce-Baker has cleared the way for an earnest conversation about mental illness and addiction in the private lives of African Americans. This Fragile Life is a compelling read about a mother's love and determination, a father's compassion and support, and a son's road to recovery and wholeness." T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Distinguished Professor, African American and Diaspora Studies and French, Vanderbilt University"

"A dark narrative brightened by a devoted mother s commitment and resilience in the face of an only child s strange and terrible illness." Kirkus Reviews"

Charlotte Pierce-Baker and her husband were always there for their son Mark, providing not only emotional support but the best education possible, the freedom to choose his own path, and every opportunity to succeed. At age twenty-five, he was pursuing a postgraduate degree in film, living with his fiancée, and seemingly in control of his life. Pierce-Baker never imagined her high-achieving son would wind up barely clothed, dirty, mad, and in jail. Her real education began with Mark’s first psychotic episode.This Fragile Life is the story of an African American family facing the challenges of their son's bipolar disorder, tracing the evolution of his illness and providing insight into mental disorders as well as family dynamics.