The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions

Trace the evolution of Michael and Jonathan’s friendship over the years. How do the dynamics between them change? How do their dynamics reflect the memoir’s key themes and ideas?

Analyze the impact of Michael’s paranoid schizophrenia on his life and those around him. How do Michael’s experiences differ from mainstream cultural depictions of schizophrenia?

Discuss shifting attitudes toward mental illness in the US in the second half of the 20th century. How did these attitudes contribute to the delivery of mental healthcare? What were the strengths and weaknesses of these new approaches?

Explain how key figures like the members of the Network and Guido Calabresi highlight the “tragedy of good intentions” referenced in the book’s title. What does Rosen suggest about the nature of “good intentions”?

On seeing Michael in the grip of mental illness, Jonathan feels “sympathy, aversion, affection, and fear in unfamiliar and shifting combinations” (248). How does his response reflect society’s feelings about individuals with mental illnesses in general?

Analyze Rosen’s use of intertextual references in The Best Minds, including Lord of the Flies, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Great Gatsby, and the Aesop’s Fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare.” How do these textual references shape the text and illustrate its key ideas? What other literary and novelistic techniques does Rosen use in his memoir?

How does Michael’s case illustrate failures in the American mental healthcare system at the time of his illness? What could be done to address these failings?

Analyze how various figures around Michael respond to his mental illness. How do they differ in their approaches to supporting him? How does his illness affect his dynamics with his loved ones? What does the memoir suggest about wider impacts of mental illness and healthcare failures on a community?