Candid, shocking, and unforgettable, Broken is a haunting and clear-eyed tale that offers hope for all those wrestling with addiction Unlike some popular memoirs that have fictionalized and romanticized the degradations of drug addiction, Broken is a true-life tale of recovery that stuns and inspires with virtually every page. The eldest son of journalist Bill Moyers, William Cope Moyers relates with unforgettable clarity the story of how a young man with every advantage found himself spiraling into a love affair with crack cocaine that led him to the brink of death-and how a deep spirituality allowed him to conquer his shame, transform his life, and dedicate himself to changing America's politics of addiction. "William Cope Moyers's lucid, measured tale of his own plunge into crack-addled hell [is] frightening in its very realism." -USA Today
There are awesome and powerful creative forces that can be fully tapped; that will absolutely unleash our dreams and hopes transforming them into a desired reality; or these very same forces will send us into the deepest darkest Hell we have ever known! If a person fails to understand that they have a huge responsibility to take full possession and control of this great creative power, then that failure to take this responsibility will always lead to these forces taking control of the person in an undesirable, destructive and potentially deadly manner. In other words opportunities and temptations to use drugs or alcohol will present themselves as a direct result of failing to take control of these forces or misusing their power! All addictions are a manifestation caused by the poor or improper use of these forces and powers! The very Powers that govern the ability for anyone to accomplish anything in their lives for their good; are the very same powers that can and will undermine and destroy those efforts! This book will give you the essential Eleven Powers and Eleven Arts that will enable you to change your life. The use of these Powers and Arts will enable you to take full control of not only your addiction, but provide endless opportunities to create and design an entire new Destiny! Addicts and alcoholics have inadvertently mastered the principles of success and use those very same concepts to assure their own failure and destruction! By forcing yourself to do what you dont want to do enables you to gain hold of and grasp these powerful forces and turn them in the direction of success instead of failure! Teach yourself and learn to direct the awesome creative forces within you and learn to turn your Possibilities into Probabilities!
Not Those People is the true story of one man's journey battling drug addiction and mental health challenges in a small Pennsylvania town. In this unexpectantly transparent account of falling into addiction as a teenager and the spiral toward a total loss of control that followed, Zak Maiden shines light on the hidden battles that are being fought by everyday Americans across the nation. The book offers a raw and intimate view into the complexities of addiction and the road to recovery by dismantling the stigmas that surround those who deal with these things. Through the eyes of an everyday, small town boy comes a story shining a spotlight on the war that countless people wage every day in silence, because they are afraid to be honest about their struggles with the labels that society has attached to them. No one wants to be those people. The depressed people. The addicted people. The suicidal people. The people who are society's failures and misfits. Through Zak's acutely relatable story, comes a path toward a new wave of transparency and opens up conversations around topics of addiction and mental health. This book is equal parts story, diary, and invitation to bring the hidden struggles of people all over America out of the shadows and into the light. To abolish stigmas and normalize conversations around topics of mental health and drug recovery. To prove that we are all just human. That we all face challenges. That we are not outcasts and misfits. We are Not Those People.
Brian Cuban was living a lie. With a famous last name and a successful career as a lawyer, Brian was able to hide his clinical depression and alcohol and cocaine addictions—for a while. Today, as an inspirational speaker in long-term recovery, Brian looks back on his journey with honesty, compassion, and even humor as he reflects both on what he has learned about himself and his career choice and how the legal profession enables addiction. His demons, which date to his childhood, controlled him through failed marriages and stays in a psychiatric facility, until they brought him to the brink of suicide. That was his wake-up call. This is his story. Brian also takes an in-depth look at why there is such a high percentage of problematic alcohol use and other mental health issues in the legal profession. What types of therapies work? Are 12-step programs the only answer? Brian also includes interviews with experts on the subject as well as others in the profession who are now in recovery. The Addicted Lawyer is both a serious study of addiction and a compelling story of redemption.
WINNER OF THE BIG RED READ PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION IN 2013. Cathryn Kemp was a successful travel journalist who was struck down by a life-threatening illness, pancreatitis. After four years of operations and mis-diagnoses she left hospital with a repeat prescription for fentanyl, a painkiller 100 times stronger than heroin. Within two years she was taking more than ten times the NHS maximum, all on prescription. Her family struggled to understand; her boyfriend left her, she hit rock bottom. Discovering she had only six months to live if she didn't give up the drugs she sold everything she owned and checked into rehab. In the addiction treatment centre she was told that she was unlikely to recover from 'the highest level of opiate-abuse in the clinic's history'. To everyone's amazement, she proved them wrong. This is an extraordinarily poignant, vivid and honest memoir. Based on the twenty-four diaries that the author kept during this period, we travel with Cathryn through her hospital agony, descend with her into the hell of addiction and cheer her as she pulls herself out and upwards. It is a love story, a horror story, a survival story, and one that shows only too clearly the very real dangers of the over-prescription of painkillers and tranquillisers. There is also a resource section for sufferers and their loved ones.
Elhajj uses the principles learned in his 12-step program to forge a powerful bond with the son he left behind at age 3, as that boy grows to maturity and a new closeness with his father. Dopefiend chronicles the help the author was able to give his son when the family disease of addiction threatened the young man’s life.
Busted Bronco: From Addiction to Redemption is the gripping story of the rise and fall of All-American football star Joe O'Brien, written by O'Brien and Bob Evancho. The charismatic and talented O'Brien watched his NFL hopes dashed by his involvement in drugs, his promising coaching career ending in a dramatic arrest that made headlines. After two years in federal prison, O'Brien turned his life around. This is the story of O'Brien's awakening -- a story of redemption and renewal.
With intense courage and candor, mother and son coauthors, Laura and Tom Boldt, share the raw accounting of Tom’s journey into alcohol and drug addiction and how that trauma reverberated throughout their circle of family, friends, and extended family. The book also charts Laura, who has a backstory. She is more than a mother standing by watching the life of her promising young son come undone. She has struggled with alcohol addiction firsthand but remains emotionally and physically sober and present for her son during his collision course with disaster. The Boldt family’s love and compassion is palpable as they work their way through deep fear, sleepless nights, and crushing setbacks. Thisis a riveting portrayal of the agonies of addiction and how one family faced their issues and found a stronger, more sustainable path forward. Many readers will undoubtedly see themselves in these stories and will come away with an abiding sense of hope—not just for Tommy and Laura, but for themselves, too. The writing in Unraveled is brilliant and fresh, and the two voices working together and against each other makes Unraveled even more memorable. Tommy's gift for zingy one-liners energizes the story and contrasts cleverly with Laura's witty yet measured and concerned maternal tone. Unraveled is a tale of chaos and near-death experiences that shares personal and private moments and the intense challenges and grueling work it takes to get sober and remain sober. It’s a unique story of a mother and son’s journey that ends with on-your-knees epiphanies that leave both parent and child asking for help. This tandem narrative is a compelling testimony of bravery and honesty that, with edgy and surprising humor, charts a family’s slow climb out of the abyss of pain into the full power of faith, redemption, and healing.
When Jim Wahlberg went to prison the second time at 22 years old, he was sentenced to six to nine years for breaking and entering, bargained down from life for home invasion. He had staggered into a Boston cop’s apartment, helping himself to the sellable stuff and all the beer in the fridge. The cop came home, found Jim passed out at the kitchen table, beat the hell out of him, and arrested him. But Wahlberg, a 130-pound kid from Dorchester, had learned some things from his life on the street and his first prison sentence. He knew how to survive. And he knew that if he wanted to avoid serving the full sentence, he would have to do something. He did what he was best at: He hustled. He would create the illusion that he was trying to change, that he’d become the model prisoner, not a guy hell-bent on getting out while he was still young enough to drink more, steal more, and do more drugs. He didn’t know, though, that the Catholic priest he was trying to hustle was actually hustling him. The Big Hustle is the story of a redeemed life and a family’s healing. This is the no-holds-barred, unvarnished, and sometimes brutal true story of Jim Wahlberg, the fifth of nine kids growing up in a working-class Irish Catholic neighborhood outside of Boston, hustling for attention any way he could get it, which led him to the biggest hustle of his life. Against all odds he got clean, he got out, and he got the girl. Jim dedicated his new life as a former addict to working with addicts, and for years has spread the word that recovery is possible. But nothing could have prepared him for what came next. His discovery that his own son was an addict threw Jim into a crisis—one that led him deeper into his faith and led to healing he never thought possible. This book is a testament to God’s power and an invitation to all of us to hope in the darkest places. About the Author Jim is the fifth oldest Wahlberg. Like his brothers Donny and Mark, Jim recovered from his tough upbringing in the streets of Dorchester to become producer, writer, and director of films, including The Circle of Addiction, What About the Kids?, and The Lookalike. Jim is the executive director of the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, created to improve the quality of life for inner city youth through a working partnership with other youth organizations. Jim and his wife live in South Florida and have three children.
