"Autism is currently a hot topic, the subject of intense discussion on the web, in the popular press, among medical researchers, and among scholars in the humanities and social sciences. This beautifully written and authoritative book engages most of the hot-button controversies around autism in a level-headed way, carefully distinguishing between the things we know for sure and the much larger collection of things we are still arguing about."Joseph Straus, Music, Graduate Center, City University of New York
"Stuart Murrays Autism offers an efficient account of a disorder cast as the test case for individual and familial insufficiency. Epidemic, postmodern metaphor, media shibboleth, and false positive, Murray demystifies many of the sources of our current beliefs about human variation. Murray helps us to recognize the continuing terms of exclusion faced by a majority of those who live among the largest minority: human disability."David T. Mitchell, Institute of Disabilities, Temple University
"Autism is currently a hot topic, the subject of intense discussion on the web, in the popular press, among medical researchers, and among scholars in the humanities and social sciences. This beautifully written and authoritative book engages most of the hot-button controversies around autism in a level-headed way, carefully distinguishing between the things we know for sure and the much larger collection of things we are still arguing about."Joseph Straus, Graduate Center, City University of New York
"Stuart Murray's Autism offers an effective account of a disorder cast variously as epidemic, postmodern metaphor, media shibboleth, and false positive. Murray demystifies many of the sources of these current beliefs about human variation while helping us to recognize the continuing exclusion faced by many with neurological differences."David T. Mitchell, School of Education, Temple University
"In this lucid, engaging text, Stuart Murray surveys the many different ways that knowledge about autism has been shaped over more than a century. Autism is an invaluable resource for readers seeking a fully integrated conversationdrawing on medical, sociological, historical, filmic, and literary discoursesabout disability and/in culture."Robert McRuer, English, George Washington University
"What stands out about Autism is that the historical, personal, political, and scientific can all be found in one place....For those unfamiliar with autism, Murrays book is an excellent introductory primer. I would definitely recommend it to my neighbors and friends as a comprehensive overview of my condition. For those already well-versed in autism discourse, Murrays book is a proposal; a look at autism in all of its guisesas a political hot-button issue, a medical mystery, a popular culture staple, etc.--then merge these perspectives together and reconsider what you thought you knew."Gyasi Burks-Abbott, Independent Autism Scholar
"The power of Autism, as an introductory account, is its attempt to engage seriously with the descriptions and understandings produced about autism from within the life sciences, while maintaining a commitment to the delicate webs of culture and interpretation within which those understandings are invariably entangled."Des Fitzgerald (2013): Autism, Ignorance, and Love, Science as Culture, DOI:10.1080/09505431.2012.742501
"Murray's Autism must first be praised for its accessibility. At little more than a hundred pages, it is thoroughly approachable, even for the uninitiated, and the style engages academic and theoretical issues with clarity as well as rigor. While the book is accessible to general readers, Murray's expertise is unquestionable." - Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, Volume 8, Issue 3, 2014, pp. 366-9 http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jlc/summary/v008/8.3.rodas.html