Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption - Softcover

William Cope Moyers

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143112457 ISBN 13: 9780143112457

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2007

Synopsis

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

About this title

About the Author

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.

Katherine Ketcham has been writing nonfiction books for forty years. Her work has been published in sixteen foreign languages and has sold nearly one million copies. She founded and serves on the board of a grassroots nonprofit organization called Trilogy Recovery Community, which helps youth and their family members dealing with alcohol and other drug problems. Ketcham lives in Walla Walla, Washington.

From Publishers Weekly

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.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0143112457
• ISBN 13: 9780143112457
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 372