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    America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life
    America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life
    America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life
    Audiobook10 hours

    America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life

    Written by Benoit Denizet-Lewis

    Narrated by David Drummond

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    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-who are 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 America'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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateFeb 9, 2009
    ISBN9781400181353
    Author

    Benoit Denizet-Lewis

    Benoit Denizet-Lewis is a writer with The New York Times Magazine and an assistant professor of writing and publishing at Emerson College. He is the author of Travels With Casey, America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life, and has contributed to Sports Illustrated, The New Republic, Details, Slate, Salon, Out, and many others. Denizet-Lewis lives in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Follow him @BenoitDLewis.

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    Reviews for America Anonymous

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    • 5/5
      Enjoyable read (or "listen") that flows smoothly. I enjoyed the various storylines exploring many different kinds of addiction.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 2/5
      Today as I was heading out to go grocery shopping, I found that I was tired of listening to The Clash. I rooted around in the CDs in my car and found an old favorite: Lucky by the band Fifteen. In my favorite song on the album, Jeff Ott sings: "My congressman says I can't give my brother a clean syringe, if he should get AIDS and die, it's just too bad."Hearing this after reading about the painful lives of these eight (actually nine) addicts resonated with me. Addiction hits so many people. This book exposed the wide variety of addictive behaviors that impact Americans everyday. Denizet-Lewis gives readers an honest tour of addiction recovery and takes us to places we don't expect to go.Most of the addiction books I have read have centered on drugs and alcohol. While these are covered, so are sex, food, and shoplifting addictions. Denizet-Lewis spends time with each of his subjects and works to get a perspective on their lives, determining the impact recovery really has. If nothing else, Denizet-Lewis exposes the need for more public addiction services. He presents us with people who are working to get better and, to a large degree, are successful. He neither glamorizes their excesses nor detracts from the absolute wonder of staying clean in a society so ripe with bad opportunities. We need to do more. Obviously, the proverbial "road to recovery" exists. But how difficult must we make it? Not only do we judge and ostracize those who are honest about their problems, we, in the case of sex, food, and shoplifting addiction, don't even acknowledge that sufferers exist.One part that was especially powerful was the former drug addict who almost relapsed because of a Vicodin prescription to help with the pain of kidney stones. Even some doctors don't seem to understand the gravity of the disease. With every one of these books I read, I can't help but feel that we could be doing more.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      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, 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 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." Through the 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.--From publisher description.(quoted form Chesterfield County Library site)