“Broken”
By William Cope Moyers
Reviewed by Ginger B.

When I first saw William Cope Moyers he was sitting in the back seat of a car outside a theater where he was going to be speaking later that evening. He was wearing a starched blue oxford cloth long sleeve shirt and the appropriate red power tie and was speaking on his cell phone. “Great”, I thought, “Here’s a rich kid grown up, having every break money could buy, and he’s going to speak to a bunch of addicts tonight about his journey from addiction to recovery. How could his story possibly relate to the people who will serve as his audience tonight?”

Then I met the man. Then I heard him speak. Then I read his book. Moyers addresses his addiction with courage and honesty. As the son of two famous parents, Moyers reveals the demons with which he battled during his formative years and how being his father’s son shadowed him everywhere. He acknowledges the perks he received, both legally and professionally, from being Bill Moyers’ son and how he blew every chance given to him by his family to stay clean and sober.

His account of his initial rehab at the Hazelden Institute and his recurring relapses, his first marriage and eventual divorce, and his second marriage to Allison, whom he met at Hazelden, are the stuff of which the human experience is made. In the first part of the book Moyers description of his experiences sometimes sound a bit contrived, but in the second half of the book he tells it like it is. No fluffy metaphors here. He’s a crack addict and the readers can almost breathe in the stench of the cavities where he goes to get high and taste the rot of the pipe in their soul.

This is a disease of relapse and Mr. Moyers is no exception to that rule, sharing the graphic details of his insane attempts to keep using, but after 13 years he has still managed to stay clean and sober, one day at a time. When I asked him how he did it, he just looked up.

A couple of weeks ago I ran into William in Washington D.C. and he told me the book had just come out in paperback. Rather than talking about the probable increase in sales that would result, he only had one comment, “I’m glad because now we can send it into the jails.”

Read the book – an honest story, written by a really nice guy.