An accessible, well-written, and authoritative account that should help demystify AA for a broad range of readers.
An expert in addiction medicine explains how Alcoholics Anonymous works, from the perspectives of personal experiences and scientific research.
Galanter (Spirituality and the Healthy Mind, 2005, etc.) is a professor of psychiatry, director of the Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse at the New York University School of Medicine, and past president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry. Not an addict himself, Galanter has written previous books on addiction and treatment as well as on cults, faith healing, and spirituality. This background makes him especially well-suited to examine AA, the Twelve Steps program of recovery that centers on turning one’s will over to a higher power. This scholarly but approachable work is written for three audiences: people with substance abuse problems who wonder whether AA can help; family and friends of addicts; and health professionals who want a clear explanation of the AA fellowship. Part I discusses AA’s origin and evolution, controversies—particularly about the role of God or a higher power—and whether alcoholism is a disease. Part II examines the AA experience, including the steps, sponsorship, and spiritual awakenings (for some an awakening “is sudden and dramatic, and for others it comes on more gradually”). In Part III, Galanter considers AA as part of addiction treatment, the role of rehabs, and the overall question of the program’s effectiveness. Throughout, the author includes personal accounts by people in and out of recovery, a diverse set of experiences that sheds light on how AA works in practice. Well-informed and engaging, this volume backs up its observations and anecdotal accounts with evidence from research. This can yield surprising results: for example, patients in a study ranked spiritually oriented items as most important to their recovery, while their health professionals ranked these elements the lowest. Galanter is particularly insightful on spiritual awakening, showing the diversity of this experience, its importance to recovering addicts, and how it can be understood psychologically. His fair-minded approach also contrasts AA with other recovery methods and discusses AA’s limitations, such as treatment issues with addicts who are mentally ill.
An accessible, well-written, and authoritative account that should help demystify AA for a broad range of readers.Pub Date: May 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-19-027656-0
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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