Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption

by William Cope Moyers, Katherine Ketcham

Overview

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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143112457
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/28/2007
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	145,912
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.37(h) x 0.86(d)
Age Range:	18 - 17 Years

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.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"William Cope Moyers's lucid, measured tale of his own plunge into crack-addled hell [is] frightening in its very realism.
-USA Today

"A memoir of a terrible disease and one man's spiritual journey through it . . . that should be read by those who have friends or family members caught in addiction."
The Indianapolis Star

Editorial Reviews

"William Cope Moyers's lucid, measured tale of his own plunge into crack-addled hell [is] frightening in its very realism." -USA Today

"A memoir of a terrible disease and one man's spiritual journey through it . . . that should be read by those who have friends or family members caught in addiction." -The Indianapolis Star

From the Publisher

William Cope Moyers thought that he had hit rock bottom in 1994 on the floor of an Atlanta crack house. But that was before several relapses and one near-fatal cocaine overdose. In Broken, the son of famed broadcaster Bill Moyers shares the harrowing story of his descent into addiction hell and his slow climb back. The author's realistic description of his incremental engulfment by drugs and alcohol transform what could be read as a surrealistic nightmare into an understandable human experience. Ultimately, this memoir wears a badge of hope.

Moyers, the son of prominent author, media figure and LBJ adviser Bill Moyers, recounts his heartbreaking struggle with alcohol and cocaine during the '80s and early '90s. Moyers covered his tracks through bold-faced denial until he spiraled out of control and landed in the first of four rehab stints. Moyers's early chapters, detailing his formative years and progression toward addiction, are somewhat plodding. But once embarking on his treatment journey, Moyers deftly tackles the complexities of sobriety, especially acceptance of those broken situations and relationships that cannot be fixed. Audie Award-winning narrator Brick brings an appropriate blend of pathos and grit to the very formidable task at hand, giving compelling voice to a tale of substance abuse without descending into a maudlin soap opera confessional. Brick proves especially masterful in recreating the delicate nuances of the father-son dialogues, as the elder Moyers struggles to convey both unconditional love toward his troubled grown child and unequivocal nonacceptance for that same young man's destructive patterns of behavior. Simultaneous release with the Viking hardcover (Reviews, July 17). (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Moyers, the son of legendary TV broadcaster Bill Moyers, is a successful journalist in his own right. His gripping account of his struggles with alcohol and crack addiction will have readers rooting for him from the very beginning. The author's idyllic childhood, spent with a loving, attentive extended family in Wilmer, TX, gives way to his first alcoholic run-in with the police in college. The story then chronicles Moyers's wanderings through the valley of the shadow of death in various crack houses and his failed relationship with his first wife, Mary. Eventually, he receives treatment at the acclaimed Hazelden Clinic in Minnesota and moves toward recovery. In his spiritual quest to become a new person, he claims his first name, William. It is somewhat unsatisfactory that the question why someone from such a privileged background would end up a drug addict goes unanswered. But that may be the point: the disease of addiction respects no one. Strongly recommended for all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/06.]-Renee Axtell, Independence, MO Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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