Moments of Clarity: Voices from the Front Lines of Addiction and Recovery [Hardcover]

Christopher Kennedy Lawford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 2008

In his New York Times bestselling memoir, Symptoms of Withdrawal, Christopher Kennedy Lawford chronicled his deep descent into near-fatal drug and alcohol addiction, and his subsequent hard-won journey back to sobriety, which he has maintained for more than twenty years. The overwhelming response his book received impressed upon Lawford the number of people struggling to find their own way back from addiction and the need to share their stories. The histories gathered here are the recollections of lives snatched back from the brink of a precipice so wide and deep it threatened to engulf them.

Moments of Clarity includes stories from men and women, young and old, across all barriers of celebrity, color, and class. Represented in these pages are the singer and the actress, the writer and the anchorman, the man from the movie screen and the woman who lives down the street. This book brings together a myriad of different moments, all with the common understanding of where these men and women have been and where they must go. As they bravely share their stories, they shed light not only on their own experiences but also on the journey we all take as human beings who are trying to make sense of our world.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The epiphanies in these engrossing oral histories, gathered by Lawford (Symptoms of Withdrawal), of addiction and recovery run the gamut, from bouts of raving trauma and degradation to subtle promptings from a still, small voice. Drummer Dallas Taylor's moment of clarity came when he stabbed himself in the stomach after freebasing with a homeless guy. For memoirist Susan Cheever, it was watching her daughter drink milk. For actor Richard Dreyfuss, it was realizing that the little girl who appeared to him in a vision at a cocaine-fueled orgy was his unborn daughter. Lawford (who is Peter Lawford's son and a Kennedy cousin) weights the selection of these confessionals toward entertainment-industry acquaintances who speak with a thick Hollywood accent (one of Jamie Lee Curtis's moments came when her Brazilian shaman called her on her pill-popping). For them, the 12-step recovery movement is more religion than therapy. The addicts' journeys uniformly proceed through a surrender of the will, prayer on bended knee and entry into the loving congregation of the meeting; their struggle is really a spiritual one to purge themselves of selfishness and egotism and connect with God, or whatever. Well, religions spread for a reason: these laceratingly honest stories of depravity and redemption show how the 12-step creed addresses human failings. (Jan. 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Christopher Kennedy Lawford is the New York Times bestselling author of Symptoms of Withdrawal. He has worked extensively in Hollywood as an actor, lawyer, executive, and producer. He has three children and lives in Marina Del Rey, California.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (December 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061456217
• ISBN-13: 978-0061456213
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #284,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reached Deep Within and Touched My Soul, January 4, 2009

By 

Taylored (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moments of Clarity: Voices from the Front Lines of Addiction and Recovery (Hardcover)

"You don't understand, no one understands," an addict's mantra, which until Moments of Clarity, was very true.

Mr. Lawford and the contributors in this book fearlessly break the validity of this mantra through the strength of sharing their stories, bringing to life the realness of the disease of addiction and the holds it has on the mother, husband, teenager, employee, and celebrity, forcing them to go against what they know is the "right thing to do."

Each story truly reached deep within and touched my soul, as they not only share their hardships, but proclaim their moment of clarity, and the astonishing changes made in their lives because of that moment. They are all great examples of willingness, and almost anyone can find identification with the feelings, thoughts, adversities, and subsequent moments of clarity as we all face some form of them during our lives on a daily basis.

I would recommend this book to those who have family members suffering with this disease and need to understand the pain and hopelessness felt by those they love. To the addict who is still suffering as they will find the hope they are so desperately seeking and to those who are in recovery as they will be able to experience renewed epiphanies as I did.

Thank you to everyone who courageously contributed to these pages as I know many people will find salvation and peace of mind through your strength.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational, Impactful and Incredible, January 13, 2009

By 

M. Moss "Monique M" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moments of Clarity: Voices from the Front Lines of Addiction and Recovery (Hardcover)

MOMENTS of CLARITY is one of the most powerful compendiums I have ever had the privilege of reading. And, I say that because I truly feel Chris Lawford's most recent work is a generous gift of its contributors sharing experiential knowledge, humility and honesty meant to help each and every reader.
When reading about the "A-Ha" moments via the trials and tribulations of the famous and not-so-famous -- from Oscar-winner Richard Dreyfuss, Jamie Lee Curtis and Katey Sagal to former federal inmate DeJuan Verrett and Safe Harbor sober homes founder Velvet Mangan -- hope, courage and willingness are the threads that tie all the stories together. The reader is left with renewed focus and energy to move forward in life and embrace change.
We are all on a path for a better tomorrow. Moments of Clarity is that comprehensive manual that if we put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward, we will get there with dignity, grace and clarity.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christopher's book enlightens anyone who enjoys a spiritual journey, January 16, 2009

By 

P. A. Saenz "The Patrician View" (Playa Del Rey, CA.USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moments of Clarity: Voices from the Front Lines of Addiction and Recovery (Hardcover)

Keeping to read over and over...

Enlightening and touching crossroads of life that give me hope and inspiration... Having had a moment of clarity that turned my life around
as an addict in recovery I crave more and Lawford's book packs that wakeup punch.