Individual emotions and the inner life were rarely discussed in the late 19th century, yet with the press regarding public trials as entertainment, readers were treated to accounts of transgressive sexuality, savage jealousy, and forbidden desires. With a wealth of detail from court and asylum records, letters, and newspaper accounts, this book explores a number of sensational trials between 1870 and 1914—just as the psychiatric professions were increasingly becoming arbiters of "normal" human behavior. Lisa Appignanesi examines the resulting clashes between the law and the clinic in the courtroom, along with other forces in play in the public forum.