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Carol C. Donely and Sheryl Buckley, Editors The Tyranny of the Normal: An Anthology Literature and Medicine, Vol. 2 Kent State University Press, 1996 ISBN 0873385357
The Tyranny of the Normal: An Anthology Literature and Medicine, Vol. 3 Kent State University Press, 2000 ISBN 0873386531
Discomfort and uneasiness are two words, of many, which arise when discussing variances in human physiology. When considering the broad range of physical limitations and deformities, society still maintains a considerably small scale of cultural acceptance. The editors of The Tyranny Of The Normal, Carol Donely and Sheryl Buckley, complied selections of literary and medical text material for a course entitled, "What's Normal?" Many of the answers to this questions will be found in their second anthology by the same name. In their research, they address the issues, perspectives, psychology, and fears of individuals with physiological differences in their body.
The result of this research effort comes together most dramatically in The Tyranny Of The Normal, the focus of my review. The anthology texts attempt to narrate the development the human condition through an awareness of the body by emphasizing the struggle of those pressured by society's imposing stereotypical view. The anthology divides into two major areas: Part One is science, a collection of research essays, whereas Part...