America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life
- ISBN-10
- 141659437X
- ISBN-13
- 9781416594376
- Category
- Psychology
- Pages
- 352
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2009-01-06
- Publisher
- Simon and Schuster
- Author
- Benoit Denizet-Lewis
Description
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.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2009-01-06
- 352 pages
- Paperback
- Simon & Schuster
Similar books
-
A Warning
By AnonymousThis book is a sobering assessment of the man in the Oval Office and a warning about something even more important -- who we are as a people.
-
The United States of Anonymous: How the First Amendment Shaped Online Speech
By Jeff KosseffIn The United States of Anonymous, Jeff Kosseff explores how the right to anonymity has shaped American values, politics, business, security, and discourse, particularly as technology has enabled people to separate their identities from ...
-
Language of the Heart
By TravisIn The Language of the Heart Trysh Travis explores the rich cultural history of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and its offshoots and the larger recovery movement that has grown out of them.
-
Diary of an Oxygen Thief
By AnonymousHe’s blinded by love. She by ambition. Diary of an Oxygen Thief is an honest, hilarious, and heartrending novel, but above all, a very realistic account of what we do to each other and what we allow to have done to us.
-
Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of how Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism
By Bill W., Alcoholics Anonymous World ServicesThe basic text for Alcoholics Anonymous.
-
A for Anonymous: How a Mysterious Hacker Collective Transformed the World
By David KushnerThe illustrated, inside story of the legendary hacktivist group's origins and most daring exploits.
-
US of AA: How the Twelve Steps Hijacked the Science of Alcoholism
By Joe MillerIn US of AA, Miller shares the never-before-told story of how in the aftermath of prohibition America's top scientists helped launch a movement that would give rise to a multi-million-dollar treatment industry and a new government agency ...
-
Book of Old-Time Trades and Tools
By AnonymousLavishly illustrated primer on the work of tailors, shoemakers, calico printers, millers, and 29 other craftworkers provides valuable insights on Victorian working class culture. More than 700 illustrations.
-
Anonymous Soldiers: The Struggle for Israel, 1917-1947
By Bruce HoffmanDraws on newly available documents from the National Archives in Britain to chronicle the historical events and key campaigns that led to the creation of Israel.
-
Actors Anonymous
By James Franco“I did Brando's voice once. For another Tennessee thing, The Fugitive Kind. Sidney Lumet needed some voiceover lines for Brando and Brando wouldn't do 'em, so I got a call to do Brando's voice.” “That's cool.” We'd watch the old movies ...