With a Lot of Help from Our Friends: The Politics of Alcoholism [Paperback]

Nancy Olson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 18, 2003

This book tells the inside story of government attempts to deal with the American alcohol problem from 1970 to 1980, the most important decade in the history of alcohol legislation since Prohibition, with the famous Hughes Act as its centerpiece. We meet the friends and supporters of Harold Hughes, the charismatic senator and former governor from Iowa, and Marty Mann, the beloved "first lady of Alcoholics Anonymous."The author, herself a major participant in these events, describes the struggles and triumphs of this small band of recovered alcoholics and their friends as they bared their souls before congressional hearings and succeeded in convincing a Congress and three reluctant Presidents to support this effort.Nancy Olson offers us a unique behind-the-scenes view of the alcoholism legislation that changed America during the 1970s. Both those interested in alcoholism and those intrigued by the legislative process will find this book fascinating. Well-documented and clearly written, this book tells a story that has long needed telling.Ernest Kurtz, author of Not-God: A History of Alcoholics AnonymousWritten in an engaging style, the book includes vivid accounts of incidents and exchanges, with a cast list including members of Congress and their staffs, federal administrators, scientists, and representatives of the alcoholism movement and of the alcohol industries. The book is essential reading for anyone interested in the modern development of thinking and action about alcoholism and alcohol issues in the U.S.Robin Room, Professor and Director of the Centre for SocialResearch on Alcohol and Drugs, Stockholm University, Sweden

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Shortly before his death in 1996, former Senator Harold Hughes of Iowa asked Nancy Olson to write this book, telling the story of what they and their friends had done to try to help the plight of alcoholics in the United States. Olson, like Hughes a recovered alcoholic, had been involved in the alcoholism field since 1965. In 1969, he appointed her to the staff of the newly created Special Subcommittee on Alcoholism and Narcotics and she served on Hughes? staff until he left the Senate in 1975. During this period the epoch-making ?Hughes Act? became law.Because of the many alcoholics and their families who contacted Hughes? office for help, she and the Senator in effect ran the first, albeit informal, Employee Assistance Program for Members of Congress, their families, and their staffs. They also counseled many high-ranking government and military personnel, and on numerous occasions even strangers who walked in off the street.In 1975 Olson was re-appointed to the staff by Senator Harrison A. Williams of New Jersey, and thus also was involved in drafting the 1976 and 1979 amendments to the Hughes Act. During this period she also had primary staff responsibility for congressional oversight of the activities of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.She resigned from the Senate staff in 1980, after which she briefly served as a part-time Washington representative for the Hazelden Foundation, while preparing to enter a monastery of the Visitation of Holy Mary. In 1982, for health reasons, she returned to secular life in Washington where she worked as a legislative analyst and lobbyist until her retirement in 1995.She now devotes her full time to research and writing, and is a popular speaker on alcoholism both nationally and internationally.

Product Details

• Paperback: 570 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (March 18, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595270379
• ISBN-13: 978-0595270378
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,486,736 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for public policy lovers, April 10, 2003

By 

Linda F. Kurtz (Ann Arbor, Mi United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: With a Lot of Help from Our Friends: The Politics of Alcoholism (Paperback)

As a person who teaches policy to students who are not very interested in it, I greatly appreciate Nancy Olson's interesting and readable account of public policy development for the alcoholism treatment field during the latter half of the last century. Most of the public policy for this field in our country has focused on law enforcement rather than humane and sensible responses to addiction. Ms. Olson's book also reminds us that sweeping policy change like the 1970 Hughes Act, which is the centerpiece of this book, actually begins decades earlier and reverberates for years to come. This one act, amazingly ushered into existence by a one term Senator, was a stunning victory for those who care about really solving the alcohol addiction problem in our country.

I worked in the field when this legislation passed. I can really appreciate the perspective of someone who was making things happen in Washington at the same time that I was working with the OEO program in our community developing community resources and getting people into AA, which was all the real help there was at the time. It was facinating to see that side of the action and to remember those promising days.

Linda Farris Kurtz, ACSW, DPA
Professor, Eastern Michigan University

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Experience, Strength, and Hope for Social Change., August 1, 2004

By 

WeRecover.org "WeRecover.org" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: With a Lot of Help from Our Friends: The Politics of Alcoholism (Paperback)

This book provides real information that those working today for social change in the recovery movement can use to take action. Those who have come before us working as "citizens" bring hope for our efforts today. Ms. Olson's first hand experience in working on policy issues, is a jewel of knowledge for those "sick and tired of being sick and tired" in today's current policy arena. More than all else this book provides detail on how those who wished only to open doors for those suffering were willing and able to come together for a common purpose on policy, all in the "spirit of recovery".

This book offers empowering detail on how the current policy arena developed and the "powers that be" came to life. This includes the NIAAA, NCADD, etc. For those not exposed to this side of our governments structure, but with a desire to learn more, I suggest reading this book immediately.

Ms. Olson does an amazing job of sourcing information, and providing readers with "real" insight on how the recovery movement began, and this is most valuable for the "real people" organizing today to carry a message of hope for real policy change reaching some 18million Americans in need of recovery.

WeRecover.org will continue to encourage all members and those interested in taking action to support recovery for social change to read this remarkable books account of what a few dedicated, educated, and spiritually driven people can do when they are willing take action together.