Broken Glass: A Family's Journey Through Mental Illness

When Robert Hine's daughter, Elene, first showed signs of unhappiness as a little girl, no one dreamed she would grow up to have a serious personality disorder. As an early "baby boomer," Elene reached adolescence and young womanhood in the midst of the counterculture years. Her father, a respected professor of American history at the University of California, shares the story of his family's struggle to keep Elene on track and functional, to see her through her troubles with delusions, medication, and eventually to help her raise her own children.

Candid in its portrayal of the suffering Elene and her parents endured and the stumbling efforts of doctors and hospitals, Hine's story is also generous and inspiring. In spite of unimaginable difficulties, Elene and her father preserved their relationship and survived.

"My daughter has given me permission to go ahead with the effort, [but] I know she would react quite differently to many of the events. Where I felt sadness and dejection, she very likely felt release and exultation. Where I felt helplessness, she very likely felt in happy control. Where I saw confusion and delusion, she may well have seen purpose and steadiness. This is not the story she would tell. It is solely mine, solely the viewpoint of one man, solely a father's feelings about his daughter." - from Robert Hine's Preface to Broken Glass


ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Robert V. Hine is a distinguished historian retired from UC Riverside and now affiliated with University of California, Irvine. He is the author of two memoirs, Broken Glass (UNM Press) and Second Sight, as well as numerous history publications.