Latest news with #SusannahCahalan
Yahoo
09-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bestselling author of 'Brain on Fire,' adapted into a Netflix movie, coming to Cape Cod
The Truro Library is hosting a talk with bestselling author Susannah Cahalan on Aug. 12. Cahalan is known for writing "Brain on Fire," which has sold over a million copies and was made into a 2016 film starring Chloë Grace Moretz. She also wrote "The Great Pretender," which was shortlisted for a prestigious science book prize. According to a community announcement, the library event is set for 6 p.m. and will feature Cahalan discussing her upcoming book, "The Acid Queen: The Psychedelic Life and Counterculture Rebellion of Rosemary Woodruff Leary." This book, published by Viking in April 2025, aims to shed light on a significant figure in counterculture history. Rosemary Woodruff Leary is often overshadowed by her husband, Timothy Leary. Timothy was a Harvard professor known for his controversial views on psychedelics. However, Rosemary was much more than just his partner. She was a beatnik and a psychonaut, deeply involved in the counterculture movement. According to the announcement, she played a crucial role in shaping the narrative around LSD and the media's portrayal of the movement. Cahalan's research includes interviews, diaries, and unpublished sources, allowing her to present a comprehensive view of Rosemary's life. The author aims to reclaim Rosemary's story, which has been overlooked for decades. 'Cahalan details a piece of lost but fascinating history, the story of a woman who embodied an era of freedom, experimentation, and psychedelic adventure,' said Susan Orlean, author of "The Library Book." The Truro Public Library is located at 7 Standish Way in North Truro. Admission to the event is free. For more information, visit This story was created by reporter Beth McDermott, bmcdermott1@ with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at This article originally appeared on Author of 'Brain on Fire' - now a Netflix movie - coming to Cape Cod Solve the daily Crossword
Daily Mail
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Publishing tycoon 'caught in a lie' after gushing about critically-acclaimed book she 'loved'
A publishing tycoon who gushed over a critically acclaimed book has been accused of lying about ever reading it. Editor Jane Pratt told New York Magazine that 'The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness', by Susannah Cahalan was 'one of the best nonfiction books I've found within the last couple years'. But eagle eyed readers have suggested Pratt is the one pretending, after poking holes in a synopsis she gave to New York magazine. Cahalan's book is an exploration of Stanford psychologist David Rosenhan's experiment, in which he claimed to have sent seven graduate students with fake psychological issues to psychiatric hospitals, only for them to be committed and then unable to get back out. The findings were held up as a watershed moment and a damning indictment on the psychiatry field. However Rosenhan's research has since been widely debunked, including by Cahalan. This aspect was completely omitted by editor Pratt in her summary of the book, which she listed as part of a feature titled '37 Things Jane Pratt Can't Live Without'. Pratt noted that the book covers Stanford University in the 1970s, a period which also produced the infamous Stanford prison experiment. 'This is about a guy from that era who — it's just the most crazy thing — sent people who were not mentally ill to mental institutions,' Pratt said. 'He got them to be accepted, then had them try to prove their sanity to get out, and they couldn't.' Author Freddie deBoer called out the discrepancy in his Substack in an article titled, 'Apparently Jane Pratt Doesn't Actually Read Books; Does the Staff at New York Magazine?' 'This isn't a case of some 19-year-old incompetently summarizing a book they were assigned to read but didn't in college,' deBoer fumed. 'It's an adult woman, an editor and writer, voluntarily participating in this feature and plugging a book she clearly cannot have read. 'Why she would do that, I really can't imagine; surely there's a book that she actually finished that she could recommend? Why do this? However you slice it, it's embarrassing.' Pratt is a veteran of the publishing industry who founded Sassy, a magazine for teen girls when she was just 24-year-old. She has since launched the award winning Jane magazine, online outlet XOJane and Another Jane Pratt Thing among other projects.
