Apology to the Young Addict

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 of memoir yet.The last in his recovery triptych that started with The Los Angeles Diaries and continued with This River, with Apology to the Young Addict, 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.