Purchase
Eight Addicts In Search Of A Life
Simon & Schuster
January 2010
On Sale: January 5, 2010
352 pages
ISBN: 074327783X
EAN: 9780743277839
Paperback
Add to Wish List
Non-Fiction Memoir
America Anonymous is the unforgettable story of eight
men and women from around the country -- including a
grandmother, a college student, a bodybuilder, and a
housewife -- struggling with addictions. For nearly three
years, acclaimed journalist Benoit Denizet-Lewis immersed
himself in their lives as they battled drug and alcohol
abuse, overeating, and compulsive gambling and sexuality.
Alternating with their stories is Denizet-Lewis's candid
account of his own recovery from sexual addiction and his
compelling examination of our culture of addiction, where we
obsessively search for new and innovative ways to escape the
reality of the present moment and make ourselves feel
"better." Addiction is arguably this country's biggest
public-health crisis, triggering and exacerbating many of
our most pressing social problems (crime, poverty,
skyrocketing health-care costs, and childhood abuse and
neglect). But while cancer and AIDS survivors have taken to
the streets -- and to the halls of Congress -- demanding to
be counted, millions of addicts with successful long-term
recovery talk only to each other in the confines of
anonymous Twelve Step meetings. (A notable exception is the
addicted celebrity, who often enters and exits rehab with
great fanfare.) Through the riveting stories of Americans in
various stages of recovery and relapse, Denizet-Lewis shines
a spotlight on our most misunderstood health problem (is
addiction a brain disease? A spiritual malady? A moral
failing?) and breaks through the shame and denial that still
shape our cultural understanding of it -- and hamper our
ability to treat it. Are Americans more addicted than
people in other countries, or does it just seem that way?
Can food or sex be as addictive as alcohol and drugs? And
will we ever be able to treat addiction with a pill? These
are just a few of the questions Denizet-Lewis explores
during his remarkable journey inside the lives of men and
women struggling to become, or stay, sober. As the addicts
in this book stumble, fall, and try again to make a
different and better life, Denizet-Lewis records their
struggles -- and his own -- with honesty and empathy.
Comments
No comments posted.
Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!
| 
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy