The third panel in Brown's masterwork triptych on addiction from youth to sixty, Apology to the Young Addict also accomplishes at last a staggeringly rare mercy--on the ghosts of memory, the ravages of disease, the brutal hypocrisies of religion, and finally--most shockingly--on himself.
--Gina Frangello, author of Every Kind of Wanting and A Life in Men Husband, addict, father, skeptic.
Now sixty--with years of sobriety under his belt--the celebrated author of The Los Angeles Diaries and This River returns with his most moving work yet.
James Brown writes about finding a new path in life while raising three sons, making peace with the family whose ghosts have haunted him, and helping the next generation of addicts overcome their disease.
Opening with the tragic tale of an elderly couple consumed by opioid addiction and moving through the horrors of a Las Vegas massacre to the loss of a beloved sponsor, these essays draw on Brown's personal journey to illustrate how an individual life, in all its messiness and charm, can offer a blueprint for healing.
Haunting and hopeful, Apology to the Young Addict is a reinvention of the recovery story and a lasting testimony from the master of the modern memoir.
About the Author JAMES BROWN is the author of the critically acclaimed memoirs The Los Angeles Diaries and This River.
He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship and the Nelson Algren Literary Award in short fiction.
Brown's work has appeared in GQ, The New York Times Magazine, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Ploughshares, New England Review, and many other publications.
He lives in Lake Arrowhead, California.
Counterpoint Llc Apology to the young addict: a memoir, hardcover/james brown
