Product Description
Methamphetamine: the quintessential American drug. American housewives, heads of state, businessmen and poets alike have acquired a taste for the yellow, crystalline powder. Everyone from Hitler to President Kennedy to Elvis to Jack Kerouac indulged in one of its many forms, and its presence has been an invisible hand shaping events, preparing the ground for the strangest drug epidemic the world has ever seen. Today methamphetamine is everywhere, and there seems to be no way of stemming its growth.

It is the backbone of Ritalin and the “club drugs” Ecstasy, Eve and Cat. According to the DEA statistics, approximately four percent of all Americans have used clandestinely manufactured methamphetamine. In the 1960s and 1970s millions of mainstream Americans used and abused prescription amphetamines; today, anyone with a stovetop, a beaker, and a little know-how can make its derivative, methamphetamine, with chemicals purchased at the hardware store and pharmacy down the street.

American Meth is the unprecedented story of a molecule in all of its incarnations, and the deep but little-known impact it has had on American life over the course of the last century. Told from the viewpoint of author Sterling Braswell, whose life has been touched by the drug, American Meth is a deeply personal drama that illuminates the epidemic we live with today.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 13 reviews)

An excellent first-person account

As another reviewer's pointed out, in American Meth the author intersperses his own tragic story of losing virtually everything he had to his spouse's meth addiction with intermittent chapters addressing the history of methamphetamine. I found the historical sections interesting - they were short, clear and to the point. But even though the author is reticent to the point of gentlemanliness about the details of the almost complete destruction of his life and family that came from his being unlucky enough to love a wife whose meth addiction came to blot out everything else in her life. However, the downward trajectory is clear, and we are able to fill in the blanks ourselves.

What I respected about this book is that the author didn't depend on sensationalism or lurid details, because, really, he doesn't need to. And it is precisely that kind of not-quite-but-almost objectivity which makes this account so chilling, and so real. The sense is that of hearing a witness account of seeing his house fit by a category F4 tornado. It's horrible, and it could happen to anyone.

When I finished the book I felt a terrible sense of loss. I would recommend this book. If you're unfamiliar with the subject of meth (not that I am; I'm not), it seems like a good place to start.

March 08, 2008

Heartbreaking

VERY painful read. Living in SW Missouri, where there are burned out meth houses in every block in the poorer areas of our community, I found this book to be very realistic. WARNING: NOT for younger readers. Don't give it to your 10-year-old.
December 19, 2007

unprecedented and vividly personal

A brilliant synthesis of little known history intertwined with a very believable yet painful relational experience. This book simply sheds light in dark spots in our own lives that we did not suspect ever existed.
December 15, 2007

Did this drug alter the course of history?

We are all being affected by the growth of Methamphetamines in America. Whether you need a cold capsule and have to present full proof of identity and sign a form to get it or you live near a neighboring house that frequently smells of cat urine (and no cats reside there) or you suddenly realize that your entire savings has disappeared along with your spouse's sanity, Meth is out there, everywhere. In Sterling Braswell's non-fiction book, "American Meth," we discover where it all started, where it is going, and how deeply this epidemic has spread through our culture. We also see the very personal and real story of Sterling's own life being controlled by the drug use of his wife.

The subtitle of the book, "A History of the Methamphetamine Epidemic in America," really describes it well. In alternating chapters, Sterling gives the relatively unknown and sordid details of how this drug came to be, and the story of his own life dealing with the use of it by his wife. The history is an eye opener, to be sure. The first commercial use came in the form of an inhaler for congestion - each containing the equivalent of fifty-six amphetamine tablets. As appetite suppressant and a boost to the metabolism, this substance found a purpose, and later was also found to help children with ADHD by helping them to concentrate more easily. The stage was set, healthy people were hooked, and the epidemic began.

Did this drug alter the course of history? I'd say, in more ways than one. Perhaps we are paying for that now. Hitler received daily shots of Amphetamines from his personal physician. In 1940, as England faced the onslaught of Germany, with a severe shortage of pilots and planes, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding understood that more could be gotten from each pilot if a measure of control over the body clock could be achieved. 73 million amphetamine tablets, "Bennies," and inhalers were made readily available. On the other side, similar measures were being taken for Kamikazie pilots and Japanese soldiers. By 1949 millions of inhalers were being dismantled by recreational drug users to get at the amphetamine soaked strips inside. Yet, the U.S. assistant Surgeon General testified in 1955, saying that as far as he knew, amphetamine was "not addicting in the true sense of the word."

The clock ticks on and the story evolves into the raging addiction that millions of Americans face today. The personal story of Sterling continues too, and we see how his wife found a source so close to home for her high that it was right under Sterling's nose. Her addiction affected every aspect of his life, and while mistakes were made along the way, he was truly helpless to change the course of events. Perhaps that is the purpose of the book, to change the course of events from here on out.

Every American who could become affected by Methamphetamine drug use, every spouse, brother, mother, cousin, co-worker or friend, should read this book. Every politician who claims to be on the front of the war on drugs, every police officer who IS on the front lines, and every judge hearing cases of possession, distribution, and the manufacture of these substances, absolutely need to read this book. One person at a time can again alter the course of history.
March 22, 2007

One book, two stories.

With American Meth, you get two things. The first is the author's personal story with methamphetamine. And the second is a brief history of the drug. The chapters alternate between these two subjects throughout the book. The obvious strength of this book is the former, the author's ordeal with methampetamine in which his wife is an addict. His story is so horrible, unlucky, and honest that I quickly began skipping the historical chapters. This turned out to be to my benefit since the historical aspect of this book, while interesting, came across as suspect. No matter how well researched his information, the author is biased due to his personal experience, and in addition, he lacks the authority to write this kind of historical record as his previous career had been in the software industry. Overall, I recommend this book strickly as a real life document to the horrors of methamphetamine, in that respect, it really is an amazing story.
November 09, 2006

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