America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life by Benoit Denizet-Lewis

America Anonymous is the unforgettable tale of 8 women and men from round the kingdom -- together with a grandmother, a school scholar, a bodybuilder, and a housewife -- suffering from addictions. for almost 3 years, acclaimed journalist Benoit Denizet-Lewis immersed himself of their lives as they battled drug and alcohol abuse, overeating, and compulsive playing and sexuality. Alternating with their tales is Denizet-Lewis's candid account of his personal restoration from sexual dependancy and his compelling exam of our tradition of habit, the place we obsessively look for new and cutting edge how one can get away the truth of the current second and make ourselves think "better."

dependancy is arguably this country's largest public-health difficulty, triggering and exacerbating lots of our such a lot urgent social difficulties (crime, poverty, skyrocketing health-care expenses, and adolescence abuse and neglect). yet whereas melanoma and AIDS survivors have taken to the streets -- and to the halls of Congress -- hard to count, thousands of addicts with profitable long term restoration speak in basic terms to one another within the confines of nameless Twelve Step conferences. (A impressive exception is the addicted big name, who frequently enters and exits rehab with nice fanfare.) in the course of the riveting tales of usa citizens in a variety of levels of restoration and relapse, Denizet-Lewis shines a focus on our such a lot misunderstood sickness (is habit a mind affliction? a non secular illness? an ethical failing?) and breaks throughout the disgrace and denial that also form our cultural knowing of it -- and abate our skill to regard it.

Are american citizens extra addicted than humans in different international locations, or does it simply appear that method? Can nutrition or intercourse be as addictive as alcohol and medicine? and should we ever be capable to deal with habit with a capsule? those are only a number of the questions Denizet-Lewis explores in the course of his extraordinary trip contained in the lives of guys and ladies suffering to turn into, or remain, sober. because the addicts during this e-book stumble, fall, and check out back to make a distinct and higher lifestyles, Denizet-Lewis files their struggles -- and his personal -- with honesty and empathy.