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Addict Nation: An Intervention for America by Jane Velez-Mitchell — book cover

Addict Nation: An Intervention for America

by Jane Velez-Mitchell
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Overview

Americans are being lured into addiction. And what we're hooked on isn't necessarily illegal or even hard to come by. Prescription medications are making us high. Fast food is making us fat. The Internet keeps us constantly distracted with everything from gambling and porn to compulsive social networking. Television bombards us with glamorized violence. From billboards, to online pop ups, to commercials. . . we're seduced into buying more stuff we don't need while we drown in growing debt. Massive profits fill the pockets of a handful of 'pushers' at the expense of everyone else. Corporations, government, and the media are creating the illusion that the more we have, the better we are, and so we crave whatever they're selling and become addicted to their products in the process. Americans are being seduced into self-destructivebehavior on a mass scale. It's time to take our power back. In her trademark no-holds-barred style, Jane Velez-Mitchell asks, 'Do you really want to be a slave, existing just to make someone else rich and powerful?' If the answer is no, then read this book. Addict Nation is our blueprint for change, but first we must see what is really going on. This in an intervention.

Synopsis

Americans are being lured into addiction. And what we're hooked on isn't necessarily illegal or even hard to come by. Prescription medications are making us high. Fast food is making us fat. The Internet keeps us constantly distracted with everything from gambling and porn to compulsive social networking. Television bombards us with glamorized violence. From billboards, to online pop ups, to commercials. . . we're seduced into buying more stuff we don't need while we drown in growing debt. Massive profits fill the pockets of a handful of 'pushers' at the expense of everyone else. Corporations, government, and the media are creating the illusion that the more we have, the better we are, and so we crave whatever they're selling and become addicted to their products in the process. Americans are being seduced into self-destructivebehavior on a mass scale. It's time to take our power back. In her trademark no-holds-barred style, Jane Velez-Mitchell asks, 'Do you really want to be a slave, existing just to make someone else rich and powerful?' If the answer is no, then read this book. Addict Nation is our blueprint for change, but first we must see what is really going on. This in an intervention.

About the Author, Jane Velez-Mitchell

Jane Velez-Mitchell (New York) is the host of the nightly news show Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell on HLN and is often seen commenting on high-profile cases for CNN, Court TV, E!, and other national TV shows. A recovering alcoholic with fifteen years of sobriety, she is the author of The New York Times bestseller iWant: My Journey from Addiction and Overconsumption to a Simpler, Honest Life and Secrets Can Be Murder: What America's Most Sensational Crimes Tell Us About Ourselves. Visit the author at CNN.com/Jane.

Sandra Mohr is an award-winning director and editor for broadcast television. She recently released the documentary Stock Shock, which examines the collapse of Wall Street ethics. Mohr also edited the award-winning documentary Behind the Mask. Visit www.mohr-productions.com.

Reviews

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Velez-Mitchell (iWant: My Journey from Addiction and Overconsumption to a Simpler, Honest Life) condemns addictions to crime, celebrity, food, technology, sex, and other things in the same no-holds-barred style of her popular television show. The author targets anyone dependent on or devoted to such disparate dysfunctions as obsessive cleanliness, sexual exploitation, prescription drugs, the need to overpopulate, and technology. Drawing from her own life, the author illuminates how the government, private sector, and media (she never slips into irony) justify, romanticize, and promote addictions—essentially becoming "pushers." Each chapter focuses on an addiction and begins with an anecdote either personal or popular before shifting into intervention mode. The woman knows her facts, and her text is stuffed with statistics and anecdotes, but a few of her ideas, and her condescending tone, may turn some readers off. "Gay is the new green" proclaims the openly lesbian author in a chapter on "breeders" (addicted to procreation), and she lays guilt on non-vegans. Velez-Mitchell's intentions are equally admirable and suspect; the authority she so boldly assumes comes not from a degree or years of casework but from personal history and TV. (Feb.)

Midwest Book Review

Addict Nation Jane Velez-Mitchell Health Communications, Inc.
3201 S. W. 15th Street, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442
9780757315459, $24.95, www.hcibooks.com

Addiction runs deep in American culture, and it's not just drugs. "Addict Nation: An Intervention for America" is Jane Velez-Mitchell's call for America to fight its addictions, and she's not just talking illegal drugs. Everything from food to pornography to social networking she claims is taking control of our lives and its up to each American to shake the monkey off of their own backs. "Addict Nation" is a fascinating and very solidly recommended pick for anyone concerned about America's overall health.

Midwest Book Review "California Bookwatch"

Addict Nation Jane Velez-Mitchell & Sandra Mohr Health Communications Inc.
3201 S.W. 15th St., Deerfield Beach, FL 33442-8190
0757315453, $24.95, www.hcibooks.com

ADDICT NATION: AN INTERVENTION FOR AMERICA analyzes how addictions have robbed Americans of their basic freedoms of choice, with freedoms coming through marketing and packaging designed to get us hooked on everything from drugs to shopping. ADDICT NATION comes from a recovering addict who asks if addiction is being marketed by big business - and how to resist its lure. Health and social issues collections alike will find this a thought-provoking 'must'.

Book Details

Published
February 1, 2011
Publisher
Health Communications, Incorporated
Pages
340
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780757315459

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