This book is a reference guide with answers to many questions people have about addiction and addictive behaviors of all kinds, including drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, Internet usage, and more.
Is addiction a sickness or a weakness? How do you help a friend or relative with a drinking problem? What is the borderline when recreational drug use becomes a dependency? Are our public health and law enforcement policies toward substance abuse working? Now, for people asking these and other questions about addictive behavior, there is a new authoritative go-to resource.
Addiction: A Reference Encyclopedia offers straight talk and clear answers on a topic often sensationalized in the media and politicized during campaigns. Drawing from a wide variety of sources, it provides readers with a concise yet thorough review of what we know about all kinds of addictive behavior.
Addiction surveys both the science of addiction and its history in the United States with two main sections: a narrative of the history of addiction as a scientific and public policy issue in the United States followed by a series of alphabetically organized entries focused on organizations, individuals, and events that have impacted our thinking about addiction. Much of the work focuses on substance abuse—alcohol, tobacco, opiates, cocaine—but the book also examines behaviors that have only recently been recognized as potentially addictive, including gambling, sexual activity, Internet usage, and more.
Features
• Comprises 127 A-Z entries on major individuals, concepts, laws, organizations, and events in the history of addiction in the United States
• 17 primary source documents highlight major ideas and developments in the history of addiction in the United States
• Offers suggestions for further reading for readers interested in learning more about the topics examined in the encyclopedia
Highlights
• Provides an overview of the major addictive substances and behaviors in one convenient, easy-to-read work
• Gives a historical overview of major addictions, describing their evolution and place in the United States society and culture from the 18th century up to the present day
• Provides clear and comprehensive overviews of major events, individuals, and organizations in the history of addiction in the United States
• Goes beyond substance abuse to explore other kinds of addiction, including gambling
Howard Padwa, PhD, works as a researcher in Los Angeles. He studied at the University of Delaware, the London School of Economics, and L'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris before earning his PhD at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Jacob Cunningham, MA, teaches history at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles, CA. He studied at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and did his graduate work at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Reviews
"... recommended for purchase by public and academic libraries."—Catholic Library World
"Aimed at a general audience, this handy yet comprehensive reference by Padwa (independent scholar) and Cunningham (history, Hebrew Union College) is divided into three major sections....In this new work the lucid language makes even legal entries easy to comprehend, thereby assisting those addicts who are looking to help themselves as well as those supporters helping friends or relatives overcome their addiction problems. Overall, this book achieves what it sets out to, serving as a handy, go-to reference work. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers."—Choice
"This intelligently written, accesible volume focuses on addiction and its history."—School Library Journal
"Appropriate for libraries where addictions are studied and where there is an emphasis on the use of primary sources."—Booklist
