Dirty: A Search for Answers Inside America's Teenage Drug Epidemic

by Meredith Maran

Book Overview

Why do teenagers use drugs, what happens to them when they do, and what can we do about it? Venturing into uncharted territory, mother and award-winning journalist Meredith Maran takes us inside teenagers' hearts, minds, and central nervous systems to explore the causes and consequences of our nation's drug crisis. In these pages we get to know the kids, the parents, the therapists, and the drug treatment programs at their best and worst. We're face-to-face...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006008622X
• ISBN13: 9780060086220
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: HarperOne
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Excellent work!

This is an excellent book on a difficult subject. Ms. Maran has performed all of us an importance service by truly listening and writing about the teenagers in this book & by sharing her own experiences. This work gets behind and beyond the statistics and media news reports. By the end of the book the reader will care deeply about the fate of these individuals and have come to a deeper understanding of their hopes, fears, and motivations. It is all too easy to remain distant & detached from this problem. Ms. Maran's writing is immediate, intense, and very personal. I would recommend this book to all parents, teachers, and mental health professionals.

A Provocative Page-Turner

I read a review of this book in Vanity Fair that said "Dirty hits a vein" and that pretty much says it all. The book is a page-turner--Maran makes you root for the 3 kids she writes about till you're on the edge of your seat, wondering what'll happen to them next. Her writing is beautiful, but you hardly notice it because the story is so compelling. The points she makes by telling the kids' stories come through, but you don't feel you're being preached to. Rather, you feel you're on the wild ride Maran went on with these kids, and as she did, you come to love and respect them in the process. Highly recommended for anyone who loves a good read, parent or not!

A great read!

I'm neither a mother nor a drug treatment professional, but I couldn't put DIRTY down! Maran does an amazing job of combining the intimate, gripping stories of four teenagers--one of them, her own son, Jesse--with an indisputable analysis of our nation's flaws, and how they contribute to our teenagers' distress. I was rooting for Mike, Tristan, and Zalika as I stayed up all night reading DIRTY; I started reading it again the next day! Highly recommended for any reading, thinking person.

Dramatic insights into the teenage drug problem

If one has interest in America's vast drug problem,and particularly in its impact on one's own family, "Dirty" is a book for your immediate attention. Author Meredith Maran begins her report:"This is a book about why teenagers use drugs, what we're doing about it, why nothing seems to be working, and what we might do to solve--or at least look honestly at--the problem."To gather the vital information, Maran virtually lived for two years with three afflicted teenagers, their families, teachers and counselors, and also called on her own experience as a parent of a teenage addict now "emerged from the tempest of his adolescence." What she witnessed, what she learned and what she advises is thoughtfully portrayed in this extremely valuable book.

A Book for Parents, Educators, and Adolescents

Being the mother of a child who is addicted to drugs has been the most painful journey imaginable. In my search for answers, I have run the gamut from counselors to drug rehabs to other parents living this nightmare. I wish Dirty had been available to me five years ago. Meredith Maran writes about the three kids in this book as a non judgmental observer who brings very human stories to life, as well as some ground breaking ideas about what we ALL can do to stem this epidemic. The stories of the main characters (who Maran chose from 3 different treatment modalities) are so compelling, and told with love, affection, and concern so often absent in the lives of kids like Mike, Zalika, and Tristan.Often kids like those portrayed have disconnected from family.Maran makes us recognize the humanity and value of these childrenEven if you are not directly impacted by teenage drug addiction, you will find Dirty a great read.