Broken by William Cope Moyers Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Broken
Book Review: Disappointed but not surprised
Summary: 1 Stars
A fine example of how some AA members blame everyone else for their addiction while shouldering none of the responsibility. Blaming his 'disease' while never acknowledging that it was his own actions that caused his addictions.
William Cope Moyers targets his father's success for his inability to get his own life together. He also blames his parents for not seeing through his lies and getting him into treatment earlier, how it might have saved him from going through the situations he put himself in.
He whines about getting jobs simply because he is the son of Bill Moyers and sabotages each one of them. He glosses over the lies and the pain he puts his family though and ignores that it is his father's name and money that gets him out of situations and into some of the most expensive treatments available.
Moyers is now a Hazelden Foundation spokesman, another job where being Bill Moyer's son helped. Perhaps by staying isolated from the real world he will finally be able to maintain his sobriety.
Book Review: Everyone is Broken One Way or Another
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a good story well told. Like other reviewers who wrote about how Moyers often seems to whine without taking full responsibility for his actions or without truly appreciating his privileged status, I also took note of his self-centered perspective and background. However, I read this book for what I could glean from it and not for what I could criticize. There's a lot of great stuff here! For anyone who might be interested, below I have listed eight basic categories of quotes that I feel have much to say to any of us who might fall prey to addictive and compulsive behaviors, or who know others who are addicted and/or recovering from addiction (that would be everyone!):
1. WHY ADDICTS GET ADDICTED AND STAY ADDICTED: Alcohol had become my new best friend, and I came to rely on it, need it, and love it as much as the marijuana...." ( p. 45). Cocaine was my running buddy, my soul mate, my faithful lover, my reliable colleague, my fun-loving playmate who tagged along everywhere I went. "Alcohol and cocaine were always there for me, they never let me down " (p. 185). " The brain cells actually adapt their structure and their functioning-so that when an addicted person feels anxious, nervous, angry, or afraid, the brain sends out a little messenger that says, "Hey, remember how good it was when you used cocaine, let's do that again!" (201).
2. HOW IT FEELS WHEN ADDICTS ARE ADDICTED: "I knew exactly what I was doing, but I had no idea why I was doing it" (p. 50). "I felt so dirty, so ugly inside and out" (p. 53). "My guilt was intense, monstrous, and it fed my addiction in ways that I did not and could not understand" (134).
3. ADDICTS AND EMOTIONS: "The demons lurking in the basement of my soul... whatever was down there scared the hell out of me. I wanted to run away from whatever was "bumping" to get out and never think about it again. Escape was what I was after, not confrontation" (p. 64). "I was only dimly aware of these deeper feelings" (145). "The daily routine grounded me: getting up at the same time every day, making my bed, cleaning my room, doing my assigned chores... eating three meals a day, meditating, exercising... but those damn emotions kept tripping me up" (167). "I wanted life to not hurt so much, and I was trying to figure out how to manipulate and control my life so that I could avoid pain" (201). "Things were wearing down inside, but I didn't dare let anyone look under the hood" (206). "While researchers and scientists tell us that our disease originates somewhere in the brain, it also lingers in the deepest regions of the human soul" (348).
4. HOW ADDICTS DECEIVE AND ARE DECEIVED: "I truly believed I could make up for everything by proving that I was stronger and more resilient now that I knew exactly what I was facing... now that I knew what I was facing I could rise above it and move beyond it (p. 134). "Lies and untruths were so deeply woven into the fabric of my everyday life" (p. 140). "Denial is self-deception...there was a deeper level of denial which entailed self-deception. I could not accept the identity that was so clearly mine to claim: addict" ( p. 173). "You are only as sick as your secrets... and you can't afford any more secrets... They're gonna kill you" (225). "I didn't' tell anyone about my cravings because I didn't want them to see the weakness inside me... I had the crazy idea that if I didn't say anything about the craving, maybe it would eventually go away, and I also had my reputation to protect" (211). Stigma and/or Fear of Being Discovered'"What will people think of me if they know I was in treatment? Will I lose my job if my boss finds out I was addicted? Will I lose the respect of my neighbors if I'm honest about my past? Will people in my community question my basic character and core values if they discover that I struggled for years?" "Big trouble wouldn't happen suddenly- it would be a process stretching over a period of weeks or months, starting with one secret and then adding secret upon lie upon secret upon lie until I was so full of secrets and lies that they would destroy me" (335). "Addiction is a disease so cunning and baffling, that when it tell s you that you don't have it, you believe it. Then, when it tells you that you can beat it on your own with no help from the experts, you believe that, too" (343).
5. HOW ADDICTS ULTIMATELY FIND DELIVERANCE: "Without the spiritual side of me, I may as well be a monkey... try to find a little time every day to feed your spiritual self" (p. 95). Recovery happens within a community and not in isolation" (p. 161). "Serenity comes from accepting the things one cannot change" (163). "Learn how to let the emotions come--don't fight them. Let them roll out and then deal with them as they come" (p. 200). "My disease is less about the drugs I took than the reason I took them--to blot out pain, to alter reality, to change perception, to numb my fear- because the deepest truth of my illness is my inability to live with what is right here, right in front of me. Accepting life on life's terms--that's the challenge... When you're trying to escape pain, there's only one thing more difficult than living life drunk, and that's living life sober" (208). "We can learn to live sober with our "issues", but only if we recognize that it isn't the issue that drives the addiction so much as the addiction that latches on to the issue for a free ride straight into the complicated neurological wiring that underlies the craving and the desire for oblivion" (247). "I couldn't run away anymore because whatever I was running from wasn't outside of me... Sit in it. Face it head on. Face the pain, the anger, the fear, loneliness, sadness, and shame. Don't hide. Face it.... Face it without asking for an answer or a solution. Face it knowing the outcome is beyond your control and what matters is accepting that it hurts and the reason it hurts so much is because you can't do anything about it. It just IS. Being human hurts...Face the no, the negative, the emptiness and nothingness that is at the center, because facing it is the act of faith itself, and it is not something we ever complete but a daily struggle to find peace in the midst of the chaos, relief at the heart of the suffering" (299). The willingness to "tell another human being my whole life story, admitting every flaw and "defect of character", holding nothing back" (p. 356). Recovery is not about "I and my" but about using the words we and our". Recovery from addiction at its heart and soul is about becoming part of a bigger whole... a community. We are all broken and the only "cure" for our brokenness is to be broken together" (348).
6. HOW ADDICTS STAY SOBER'"My whole life depends on not taking that first drink" (p. 297). "My disease is progressive, I know that, and I know from my most recent relapse that it's progressed into its late stages--if I relapse again, I don't think I'll get another chance" (320)
7. HOW RECOVERING ADDICTS HELP OTHER ADDICTS: "When we speak out, we become beacons of hope and pathways to help for addicts and alcoholics who don't know where else to turn. People will come out of the woodwork asking "can you please help me?" (367).
8. THOUGHTS ABOUT GOD: "It was clear from my relapses that I wasn't ready to let God control everything in my life" (293). Moyers believes he literally heard God's voice! (p. 300). "Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous" (351).
Other readers will come up with their own insightful categories. Enjoy the book!
Book Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
The purchase I made was everything listed when I bought it. It was in perfect conditon, and look forward to doing business with them in the future! Thank you!Book Review: Getting Out of the Shadows with Rigorous Honesty
Summary: 3 Stars
William Cope Moyers is an alcoholic and crack addict. It doesn't matter that he comes from a good family, that he earned a college degree, and that he was a writer for CNN. What matters is that after many attempts he is now a sober, contributing member of society.
Growing up, William always felt as if he was in the shadows of his famous father Bill Moyers, one of the most well-known and respected journalists in the nation. The senior Moyers was the former White House press secretary during Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency. From that role he moved to several before he began his own production company, which produced documentaries.
William went from a young boy with no cares in Wilmer, Texas to a boy with no faith after a severe thunderstorm stole his faith and his innocence. He began high school during which he started his love affair with drinking and experimenting with drugs. College, the ever-present endorsement for drinking and recreational drugs, was comfortable and allowed William's drinking problem to flourish. Upon graduating, he began working as a newspaper reporter. During this time, several incidents occurred that demonstrated lack of control where drink and drugs were concerned. And several times William, unable to cope with life on life's terms, moved to a new city with a new job.
Finally, William hit bottom and ended up in a detox and mental hospital in New York City. His wife, father, and mother were bewildered when he shared the truth about his addiction. An alcohol and drug rehab in Minnesota called Hazelden was the next stop. It was in St. Paul that William was introduced to recovery and was taught the tools or `medication' that would help alleviate his disease - one day at a time. However, as evidenced by the progressive nature of this disease, if someone is not ready to get sober, they will not. William was able to resist sobriety until he was flat on his back in an Atlanta crack house several years later.
Until the younger Moyers was able to be rigorously honest about his disease and where the disease had taken him, he was unable to get and stay sober. Similarly, when he was not only honest about his disease, but also accepted it, he was able to step out of the shadows of his famous father, let go of the resentments, and walk with purpose.
Today, William is a husband, father, son, brother, and friend because he remembers that he is an alcoholic and addict. Without rigorous honesty in his life he is unable to be a husband, father, son, brother, and friend. Without rigorous honesty, he'll end up back into the shadows. And without rigorous honesty, William is unable to walk with purpose.
Book Review: Great story of overcoming addicition
Summary: 5 Stars
An insightful look inside the addiction process and recovery. Should be read by everyone who has ever wondered about addiction, and especially those young people who might be contemplating any type of substance abuse. Strips away any glory surrounding being an addict and lays bare the hurt and despair that ultimately results. A great read.