America Anonymous : Eight Addicts in Search of a Life

America Anonymous is the unforgettable story of eight men and women from around America struggling with addictions - a radio DJ addicted to food, a bisexual bodybuilder addicted to crystal meth and steroids, a college student addicted to sex and pornography, an eighty-year-old retiree addicted to alcohol, an unemployed former boxer addicted to heroin, a housewife addicted to shoplifting, a grandmother addicted to crack, and a drug and gambling addiction counselor addicted to - in his own words - "virtually everything.". 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 a culture of addiction, where people obsessively search for new and innovative ways to escape the reality of the present moment and make themselves feel "better." Addiction is arguably America's biggest public-health crisis, triggering and exacerbating many 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 lobbied governments 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 this most misunderstood of health problems (is addiction a brain disease? A spiritual malady? A moral failing?) and breaks through the shame and denial that still shapes cultural understandings of it - and hampers the ability to treat it.

Paperback, 352 Pages, Published 2009