The Minds of Billy Milligan: A True Story of Multiple Personality

By Daniel Keyes

Book Overview

From the acclaimed author of Flowers for Algernon comes the shocking true story of a man battling multiple personality disorder--the inspiration for the streaming series The Crowded Room, starring Tom Holland.

Billy Milligan can be anyone he wants to be . . . except himself.

Billy Milligan was a man tormented by twenty-four distinct personalities battling for supremacy over his body--a battle that culminated when he awoke in jail, arrested for the kidnap and rape of three women. In a landmark trial, Billy was acquitted of his crimes by reason of insanity caused by multiple personality--the first such court decision in history--bringing to public light the most remarkable and harrowing case of multiple personality ever recorded.

Twenty-four people live inside Billy Milligan.

Philip, a petty criminal; Kevin, who dealt drugs and masterminded a drugstore robbery; April, whose only ambition was to kill Billy's stepfather; Adalana, the shy, lonely, affection-starved lesbian who "used" Billy's body in the rapes that led to his arrest; David, the eight-year-old "keeper of pain"; and all of the others, including men, women, several children, both boys and girls, and the Teacher, the only one who can put them all together. You will meet each in this often shocking true story. And you will be drawn deeply into the mind of this tortured young man and his splintered, terrifying world.

Praise for The Minds of Billy Milligan

"A shocker that will rivet even the casual reader."--Flora Rheta Schreiber, author of Sibyl

"A fascinating work."--Los Angeles Times

"An absorbing, often heart-rending exploration of the human mind."--Cosmopolitan

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553263811
• ISBN13: 9780553263817
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Bantam
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Amazing!!

This is officially the coolest item that I own. I ordered an original, used, hardcover print. Enclosed are original newspaper clippings from when the case was occurring. I am astounded. Thank you thank you! I will be ordering many times over.

The book came in great condition

I love this book and it came fully intact, with the dust cover, no missing pages, not even any writing.

Really Makes You Think

Wow! I just finished reading this book, and I am completely blown away! "The Minds of Billy Milligan" is about a young man with multiple personality disorder, the crimes a few of his personalities committed, and the mostly horrendous treatment he endured while trying to find help for his mental disability. One of the crimes committed was that of rape, the other was stealing. Although I must admit that the crime of rape is horrific, it seems as if neither the court, politicians, nor the media cared about the reasons it happened. All that was focused on was punishment, at the expense of trying to help this man get better, and to learn to be a functioning person is society. It is really quite sad!!! Unfortunately, I think that if the same thing happened today, the results would be similar. We, as a society, are so worried about making sure that everyone receives their just punishment, that we don't stop to see if there is a reason for the disconnect - a reason for why people in our society do these things. Maybe if we would focus our attention on the "whys", and how to provide EFFECTIVE treatment, we would find ourselves in a much better place. Overall, I found this book to be both sad & thought provoking. I found myself getting angry at the reporters who sought to bring him down every time he was starting to show progress, as well as toward the politicians who used him as a bargaining chip to gain more votes - quite unhonestly, I found this to be disgusting behavior as well! I would recommend this book to anyone intersted in psychology - specifically multiple personality disorder - it is a real eye opener!

Excellent Book

I first read The Minds of Billy Milligan in 11th grade after my english teacher recommended it to me. I read the entire book in one sitting! I could not put it down. It is an amazing portrayal of a man from Ohio who has multiple personalities. It is uniquely written from the different perspectives of each personality, and gives you an intimate look into the life of a very abused and disturbed man. I would like warn parents that the book is quite graphic, and deals with rape and violence quite bluntly. It is definitely NOT for very young readers. I do feel that anyone interested in psychological disorders should check this book out.

Outstanding! I am so glad it is back in print.

I am a psychiatrist who subspecializes in working with patients with dissociative disorders. I read this book several years ago gave my copy to a colleague -- never to see it again. When I tried to replace it, it was out of print. I was crushed.I loved it the first time and I love it even more this time. The author does such a fine job of using all of his skills to bring out the experience of multiplicity. It is a tremendous contribution to both professionals and the public. Just as in the story there were many people who didn't "believe" in the diagnosis -- even now, over 20 years later, there are still psychiatrists who are saying the same thing. It is a disgrace that people are so ignorant.I couldn't help wondering at the end of the very sad story, "where is Billy Milligan today?" Dr. David Caul has died -- may he rest in peace. What an incredibly courageous soul he was to accept the challenge of steadfastly standing by Billy against harassment which would have brought almost anyone else down.This book is so educational that no one should miss it.

Excellent, Compelling, Mind-Boggling!

The minds of Billy Milligan is a compelling, great book. I read from start to finish not putting it down. I am anxious for the movie and sequal to come out in America. the movie is going to be called a crowded room and the sequal, already out in Japan, is the milligan wars.

I could not put this book down once I started it.

I read this book in 1991 when I was a crisis counselor in Ohio. It dispelled some of my views on mental illness and substance abuse, i.e. how only one of his personalities was a drug addict which, to me, dispelled my belief that drug addiction was not a physical dependency but apparantly a mental one. Unfortunately I was so enthused over this books and the way it delved into what a person with MPD went through I lent it to many collogues and lost track of it and thus no longer have it and I have been trying for several years to obtain another one. Once you start it you cannot put it down until finished. I met someone at a conference in Cincinnati, Ohio who knew this man and we discussed how he was doing. At that time his personalities were still fused and he worked for the Ohio Dept. of MH as a janitor.