In 1959 the social psychologist Rokeach conducted an unusual experiment at Ypsilanti State Hospital in Michigan. He brought three men – a young college dropout, an elderly farmer and a violent failed writer – together in the same room. These men had something in common: they were all paranoid schizophrenics who believed themselves to be Jesus Christ. The Three Christs is part meticulous log-book, part intriguing commentary and part high-voltage play as Rokeach recreates the men's interactions over 25 months. Rokeach's aim was to force them to confront "the ultimate contradiction" of believing they were the same being. His experiment was founded on his conviction that changes in belief systems could produce fundamental changes in both self and community, and this book highlights how the men learned to try to live with one another. Reissued for the first time in over 25 years, it comes with a pithy and sensitive preface by Rick Moody, foregrounding both changing attitudes to institutional care and the problems and possibilities of Rokeach's experiment.

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