Background on Ken Kesey. The life of Ken Kesey / Stephen L. Tanner and Laura M. Zaidman ; Kesey clarifies the role drugs played in the creation of One flew over the cuckoo's next / Robert Faggen and Ken Kesey ; Kesey was the seminal author of the psychedelic era / Christopher Lehmann-Haupt ; Defying terror was a Kesey hallmark / Douglas Brinkley

One flew over the cuckoo's nest and mental illness. Kesey's realistic view of the world of the insane / Janet R. Sutherland ; McMurphy helps Chief Bromden regain his sanity / Barry H. Leeds ; The patients in Cuckoo's next regain their manhood by banding together / Terence Martin ' McMurphy is a psychopath, not a hero / Robert Forrey ; Chief Bromden conquers his fears and becomes a hero / Annette Benert ; One flew over the cuckoo's nest questions the meaning of sanity / Ellen Herrenkohl ; The insane are more rational than the sane / Barbara Tepa Lupack ; Kesey creates an Oedipal triangle in Cuckoo's next / Ruth Sullivan ; Mixed ethnicity and gender issues preset challenges to manhood / Robert P. Waxler ; Kesey critiques a society that uses fear and conformity to emasculate men / Michael Meloy

Contemporary perspectives on mental illness. People with severe mental illness can live productively in society / Kate Sheppard ; Psychosurgery raises ethical issues / Lauren Slater ; Brain surgeries banned elsewhere are performed in China / Nicholas Zamiska ; Electroshock therapy can help cure depression / Mind, Mood & Memory.