US of AA: How the Twelve Steps Hijacked the Science of Alcoholism

By: Joe Miller

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Synopsis: In US of AA, Miller shares the never-before-told story of how in the aftermath of prohibition America's top scientists helped launch a movement that would give rise to a multi-million-dollar treatment industry and a new government agency devoted to alcoholism that has made available millions of dollars for research. Despite the fact that this research showed that alcoholism is a complex disease requiring an array of treatment strategies, among which Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is one of the least effective, money continued to flow to treatment facilities using approaches similar to AA. Five years in the making, his brilliant, in-depth investigative reporting into the history, politics and science of alcoholism will show how AA became our nation's de facto treatment policy, even as evidence for more effective remedies accumulated. US of AA is a character-driven, beautifully written exposé, full of secrecy, irony, liquor industry money, the shrillest of scare tactics and, at its center, a grand deception. In the tradition of Crazy by Pete Earley, and David Goldhill's Catastrophic Care, US of AA shines a much-needed spotlight on the addiction treatment industry. It will forever change the way we think about the entire enterprise.