Broken

Overview

From rock bottom to recovery--the son of veteran broadcaster Bill Moyers chronicles his life-shattering battle with addiction and the hard-won fight for recovery

William Cope Moyers has come a long, long way. In 1994, he lay on the floor of an Atlanta crack house. His father had put together a search party. His worried family waited at home where Moyers had left them when he embarked on yet another binge. From that lowly, drug-hazed night, Moyers went on to become an executive at the Hazelden Foundation and travels far and wide to talk about addiction and treatment.

Broken tells the story of what happened between then and now--from growing up the privileged son of Bill Moyers to his descent into alcoholism and drug addiction, his numerous stabs at getting clean, his many relapses, and how he managed to survive. Harrowing and wrenching, Broken paints a picture of a man with every advantage who nonetheless found himself spiraling into a dark and life-threatening abyss. But unlike other memoirs of its kind, Broken emerges into the clear light of Moyers's recovery as he dedicates his life to changing the politics of addiction. Beautifully written with a deep underlying spirituality, this is a missive of hope for the scores of Americans struggling with addiction--and an honest and inspiring account that proves the spiritual insight that we are strongest at the broken places.

Editorial Reviews

The prodigal son of Bill Moyers, the exemplary broadcast journalist, wrecked a bright career at CNN and deserted his family in 1994, hitting bottom as a "thirty-five-year-old crack addict." The lurid appeal of his story hinges largely on Moyers's munificent, even saintly father, and the train-wreck spectacle of his son's fall from grace. Moyers conveys with black humor the rapturous allure of substance abuse: "cocaine owned me, body and soul," he writes. It lures him back even after stints in rehab, brushes with death and lucky breaks. As his habit skids out of control, Moyers dodges punishment with smug hauteur. He enjoys plum reporting assignments as a fortunate son and plays the role of "solid, sincere recovering alcoholic," while persisting in his unrepentant behavior. Moyers hits his stride in evocations of his muddled, though quasi-methodical, mindset: the vertiginous pull of addiction, the powerful delusions of denial and the double-edged sword of legacy, which proves a potent enabler. His father, who addresses him in heartfelt letters excerpted at length, looms throughout as both reproving shadow and divine light. Photos. (Sept.)
Copyright (c) Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
-- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of William Cope Moyers

William Cope Moyers is the vice president for external affairs at the Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota. He is a former newspaper journalist and writer for CNN.

Bio of Katherine Ketcham

Katherine Ketcham is the author of nine nonfiction books, including five on alcoholism. William Asbury, former Editor-In-Chief of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, writes and lectures frequently on the nation's alcohol problems. Mel Schulstad is former president and co-founder of the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors. Dr. Arthur Ciaramicoli is director and chief psychologist of the Alternative Therapy Center of the Metrowest Medical Wellness Center in Natick, Massachusetts and is an instructor at Harvard Medical School.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Penguin Group, Inc.

Filesize

702.31 KB

Number of Pages

384

eBook ISBN

9781429542890