Addiction: A Reference Encyclopedia

by Howard Padwa, Jacob Cunningham

Overview

A reference guide that answers the questions people have about addiction and addictive behaviors of all kinds, including drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, Internet usage, and more.

Addiction: A Reference Encyclopedia offers straight talk and clear answers on a topic often sensationalized in the media and politicized during campaigns. Drawing from a wide variety of sources, it provides readers with a concise yet thorough review of what we know about all kinds of addictive behavior.

Addiction surveys both the science of addiction and its history in the United States with two main sections: a narrative of the history of addiction as a scientific and public policy issue in the United States followed by a series of alphabetically organized entries focused on organizations, individuals, and events that have impacted our thinking about addiction. Much of the work focuses on substance abuse—alcohol, tobacco, opiates, cocaine—but the book also examines behaviors that have only recently been recognized as potentially addictive, including gambling, sexual activity, Internet usage, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781598842296
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/18/2010
Pages:	398
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Howard Padwa, PhD, works as a researcher in Los Angeles.

Jacob Cunningham, MA, teaches history at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles, CA.

Editorial Reviews

This intelligently written, accesible volume focuses on addiction and its history.” —School Library Jourbanal

“Appropriate for libraries where addictions are studied and where there is an emphasis on the use of primary sources.” —Booklist

“Aimed at a general audience, this handy yet comprehensive reference by Padwa (independent scholar) and Cunningham (history, Hebrew Union College) is divided into three major sections….In this new work the lucid language makes even legal entries easy to comprehend, thereby assisting those addicts who are looking to help themselves as well as those supporters helping friends or relatives overcome their addiction problems. Overall, this book achieves what it sets out to, serving as a handy, go-to reference work. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.” —Choice

“… recommended for purchase by public and academic libraries.” —Catholic Library World

From the Publisher

Nearly 130 entries are included in this A-to-Z covering individuals, concepts, laws, organizations, and events in the history of addiction in the United States. Topics cover the traditional forms of substance abuse—including alcohol, tobacco, opiates, and cocaine—and also address addictive behaviors from gambling and Internet usage to sexual activity and shopping. The volume contains three main areas—all in plain English. The first is an excellent overview of the science behind addiction with a focus on neurochemistry and the myriad changes that addiction causes. The second part is the largest section of the book and homes in on individuals, events, organizations, and developments in the study of addiction. From Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), the Betty Ford Clinic, and Debtors Anonymous (DA) to the Hazelton Foundation, Steroids and Sports, and the Tobacco Institute, readers get a very clear understanding of the development of the issues involved. Each essay provides thorough historical and scientific overviews with numerous suggestions for further reading and reference. The final part provides readers with some of the key developments in the history of addiction. Padwa is a researcher in Los Angeles and earned his PhD at UCLA; Cunningham teaches history at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles and did his graduate work at UCLA. BOTTOM LINE This is an accessible, handy, and timely reference guide that should appeal to a wide audience. It will strike a chord with friends and relatives assisting with an addiction problem as well as those suffering with an addiction. The book is authoritative and provides comfort that there are many forms of addiction that have had their hold from the 19th century to the present.—Kathleen A. Welton, Chicago

Library Journal

Gr 9 Up—This intelligently written, accessible volume focuses on addiction and its history. An opening essay includes a general definition; descriptions of the major addictive and psychoactive substances in the United States; how the substances work and what makes them addictive; and behavioral addictions such as gambling, compulsive shopping, and steroid abuse. The second section consists of 127 entries on individuals, events, organizations, and developments in the study of addiction, emphasizing government initiatives. Finally, 18 primary-source documents dating from 1811 (an excerpt from Benjamin Rush's An Inquiry into the Effects of Ardent Spirits Upon the Human Body and Mind) to 2007 (an excerpt from Nora D. Volkow's "NIDA Will Contribute to Obesity Research") provide further insight into the historical information. Esther Gwinnell and Christine Adamec's The Encyclopedia of Addictions and Addictive Behaviors (Facts On File, 2005) offers similar information, but without the emphasis on history.—Debbie Hoskins, Grand Rapids Public Library, MI

School Library Journal