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I give away a free ebook nearly every day!
These are 2 of my best selling books and they are part of a series of books I have written about women's history as it pertains to Camarillo State Mental Hospital. I believe the issue of civil rights abuses in institutions hidden on the edge of town is an important topic. I am almost done with a 3rd book, Volume II of Commitment Criteria, which includes 30 more women's stories about Camarillo Hospital. The new book includes fascinating stories of Dorothy Comingore, who was the lead female role in Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane," and later was blackballed over Communism in Hollywood, and another story about a girl in Camarillo and her association to famous Death Row inmate Caryl Chessman, a man who had famous dignitaries and movie stars petitioning for his pardon up until his death in San Quentin. The new book should be published by June 2012.
This book takes a new look at Wilma Wilson's classic book, "They Call Them Camisoles," which was published in 1940. Wilma was committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital for 4 months for alcoholism in 1939 and wrote a book about her time there. This book includes the entire text and all sketches from the book "They Call Them Camisoles" with a new addition of over 150 photographs of the places Wilma speaks of in the hospital, taken by K.Anderberg. This book also includes references to L.A.Times articles that illustrate what Wilma has written, as well as providing a history of the hospital. "Keeper of the Keys," a book published in 1976 by a Camarillo nurse, about abuses at the hospital, is also compared and contrasted to Wilma's words throughout this book. A look into Wilma's life before going to Camarillo is explored through CA birth and census records, in addition to newspaper reports, and her sensational death is also followed through news reports in the end of this book.
This book is of interest to anyone who cares about human rights. It also is a good expose on the history of mental hospitals, especially Camarillo State Mental Hospital, in CA. This book includes information about the grand jury investigations which ended up indicting doctors and technicians at Camarillo Hospital in 1976, as well.
Author Kirsten Anderberg earned her MA Degree from CA State University at Northridge, with a major in History and Archiving. Her work addressing the history of CA institutions is unprecedented. She wrote and published the first book ever written about the history of MacLaren Hall, a child protection institution in Los Angeles County and her books about Camarillo State Mental Hospital have brought the discussion of these hidden isolating institutions, still in existence today, back into the spotlight. This book is available for $34.99 via Amazon.com, so you save $10 ordering it here!
SPECIAL OFFER!! I am offering signed copies of my book, "Commitment Criteria: 23 Women of Camarillo State Hospital," via mail. This book sells for $24.99 on Amazon.com, so you save $5 buying it directly from the author!
$19.99 + $4 postage/shipping (for U.S. only - contact kirstenaATresist.ca for other country rates)
This new paperback about Camarillo State Mental Hospital - includes 22 photos never published in a book before! Follow 23 women's paths into Camarillo State Mental Hospital in California. (Camarillo Hospital was open from 1936-1997 and in its heyday, housed 7,000 patients at a time.) Due to its proximity to Los Angeles, Camarillo Hospital had an abnormal amount of Hollywood connections. Life stories in this book range from the criminally insane to women who were committed due to controlling husbands. In this first volume, 23 women's stories are told, including those of Marilyn Monroe's mother, Comedian Bob "Bazooka" Burns' daughter, Actress Gia Scala (who starred in movies with Glenn Ford, Gregory Peck and more), Edward G. Robinson's daughter-in-law, Silent film actress Catherine Smith, Actress and race horse stable owner Paula Stanway Thorpe, One of the first women run for CA governor Hazel Younger, Ex-wife of Diamond Walnut Growers Inc.'s founder, and the 4th woman gassed to death in CA's then 111 year history of the death sentence by gas chamber. These stories range from 1942-1986. Includes 22 photographs of the abandoned hospital taken by the author. These photographs have never been published in a book before.
KINDLE VERSION of Commitment Criteria If you do not own a Kindle, you can download these books for other technologies such as iPhones, iPads, or personal computers instead.
Paperback books by Kirsten Anderberg:
DAY TRIP TO SANTA CRUZ ISLAND, CA
THINGS TO DO WITH KIDS UNDER 6 (AND OVER 60) AT ANAHEIM'S DISNEYLAND
Kindle Ebooks by Kirsten Anderberg:
Find more books and ebooks by Kirsten in our ONLINE BOOKSTORE!
I am currently working on several books, including new works about Ridge Route History; History of the Channel Islands; Seabea Recreation Overseas; Southern California Urban Adventures Guide; Camarillo Women Part II and Children of Camarillo. I am also converting the Kindle books into paperbacks at this time.
Sunset over Pacific Ocean at Ventura, CA (Photo: K. Anderberg 2009)
"The shore is an ancient world, for so long as there has been an earth and sea there has been this place of the meeting of land and water…Whenever I go down into this magical zone of the low water of the spring tides, I look for the most delicately beautiful of all the shore's inhabitants - flowers that are not plant but animal, blooming on the threshold of the deeper sea. In that fairy cave I was not disappointed. Hanging from its roof were the pendent flowers of the hydroid Tubularia, pale pink, fringed and delicate as the wind flower. Here were creatures so exquisitely fashioned that they seemed unreal, their beauty too fragile to exist in a world of crushing force. Yet every detail was functionally useful, every stalk and hydranth and petal-like tentacle fashioned for dealing with the realities of existence. I knew that they were merely waiting, in that moment of the tide's ebbing, for the return of the sea. Then in the rush of water, in the surge of surf and the pressure of the incoming tide, the delicate flower heads would stir with life. They would sway on their slender stalks, and their long tentacles would sweep the returning water, finding in it all that they needed for life…I was filled with awareness that this intertidal area, although abandoned briefly and rhythmically by the sea, is always reclaimed by the rising tide." - Rachel Carson, 1955
I adore wilderness literature and have created several webpages based on my own outdoor photography and nature quotes by scientists, artists, and naturalists throughout history. I hope you enjoy my Wilderness Literature Website and that it inspires you to spend more time outdoors yourself!
The photo to the right is of a road runner I saw up on Ridge Route one afternoon
(Photo: K. Anderberg 2009)
Visit my Urban Adventures in Southern-Central CA area of this site to
find interesting historical adventures and
outdoor recreation tips for
Southern-Central CA. I adore Southern-Central CA's canyons, beaches, back roads, historic sites, and its natural beauty. We have deserts with amazing sunsets by the howl of coyote and shadow of cactus, and beach bluffs above seal sanctuaries and hidden canyons full of history, wild plants and animals. I spend a lot of time in nature and have
documented many of my favorite places and discoveries in my Urban Adventures section. From Carpinteria to Ojai, Malibu to Ventura, Saugus to Sylmar, Hollywood Hills to Topanga,
it is all so beautiful, I feel absolutely blessed to live here and be able to share its hidden wonders with others.
The photo to the left is a window in Unit 34 of the abandoned Camarillo State Mental Hospital. This unit was built in 1937 and housed/treated psychiatric patients. (Photo: K. Anderberg, January 22, 2010)
Camarillo State Mental Hospital was opened in the 1930's in the Santa Monica Mountain foothills, and at its peak capacity in the 1950's, it held 7,000 patients within its compound. The hospital was closed in 1997, and recently some of the abandoned hospital buildings have been renovated into a college campus. Camarillo was the largest mental institution west of the Mississippi for decades, and their mental experimentation affected the entire psychiatric field. UCLA had a research building at Camarillo, in Unit 45, for the entirety of its existence. Although there is a rich history to Camarillo State, one that includes the institutionalization of Charlie Parker, jazz legend, and Marilyn Monroe's mother, an unusual architecture, a controversial past, and more, little is published about it. This research and these webpages are the beginning of the documentation of Camarillo's history online. The Camarillo State Hospital Historical Society is hoping to secure funding for more in depth study of this topic in the future...Read More...
To the right: Anacapa Island is one of the Channel Islands
located off the coast of California. (Photo: K. Anderberg, Aug 25, 2009)
The Channel Islands are located off of the CA coast. I can see Anacapa, Santa Cruz, and Santa Rosa Islands from the beach in Ventura where I live. Some days I can see the canyons on Santa Cruz Island clearly, other days it is so cloudy you cannot see any of the islands. The islands have a fascinating history. In the mid-1800's, a woman was left alone on San Nicolas Island for 18 years, and on Anacapa Island, a cove is named after a character named Frenchy, who was known to raid anchored ships' liquor supplies. Most of the islands are parks and conservation areas now, a few are military bases...these islands have been used by different populations for varied uses for thousands of years. Sheep were raised on some of the islands, during Prohibition, alcohol was sold on the islands, thus the name "Smugglers Cove" on Santa Cruz Island. I am documenting things I learn about the Channel Islands as I live near them, and find them intriguing and beautiful.
To the right: Ridge Route winds along ridge tops with deadly curves, and spectacular views...(Photo: K. Anderberg, Jan. 2008)
Ridge Route, above Castaic, CA winds along quiet faultines and cliff edges, to the sound of wind and birds. Views of the San Gabriel and Tehachapi Mountains to the east, north and south, as well as the
transverse ranges in Ventura County to the west, make this route a pleasure on a sunny day. I would not recommend driving it at night, it is too dangerous. Ridge Route was opened in
the early 1900's and was quite a popular route for recreation and commerce until the I-5 passage now in use was established. It turned out it was easier to follow the valley floor
than the ridge peaks due to so many cars plunging off the edges up on Ridge Route. Little is written about Ridge Route, and I am hoping to do more work on this topic in the future as well.
Ridge Route is part
of what I call my
"Urban Adventures" and I am making web pages and even a book of recommended Urban Adventures in Southern CA shortly.
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