Reviews
Review by: Timothy Johnson - April 22, 2019
“Timothy McMahan King writes from a deep well fed by an amazing personal experience with opioid addiction that led to unique insights about recovery in the context of his Christian faith. His words of hard-won wisdom should be read by individuals, churches, and any organization yearning for fresh ideas about how to understand this national epidemic.”
Review by: Lisa Harper - April 22, 2019
“African American communities suffered the infiltration of death-dealing heroin in the 1970s and the atom bomb of crack in the 1980s. Our cries rarely made it to the pages of the New York Times, and few black drug addicts ever got to tell their story, though they writhed with the same agony fleshed out in Addiction Nation. Timothy McMahan King does not share a white addiction story. His story reveals the indiscriminate terror of addiction in the lives of human beings. I want every American to read this book. I want each reader to understand the horror of addiction through the framework of my friend’s struggle. And after turning the last page, I pray each reader closes their eyes and imagines the diverse mosaic of America in the clutches of this beast. Maybe then we might all be set free.”
Review by: Cathleen Falsani - April 22, 2019
“That Timothy McMahan King survived the clutches of opioid addiction is a miracle. That he lived to tell the harrowing tale is a gift to the rest of us. Everyone battles the beast of addiction, whether it is to substances or to some other form of unbridled consumption we’ve deemed somehow more socially acceptable. If we are to find our collective way out of addiction’s societal morass, we need a voice and vision such as King’s—steady-eyed and compassionate, rational and reasoned, full of hope and rooted in grace—to lead the way. At once sweeping and deeply personal in its scope, Addiction Nation is an essential resource for anyone touched by addiction, which is all of us.”
Review by: Soong-Chan Rah - April 22, 2019
“That Timothy McMahan King survived the clutches of opioid addiction is a miracle. That he lived to tell the harrowing tale is a gift to the rest of us. Everyone battles the beast of addiction, whether it is to substances or to some other form of unbridled consumption we’ve deemed somehow more socially acceptable. If we are to find our collective way out of addiction’s societal morass, we need a voice and vision such as King’s—steady-eyed and compassionate, rational and reasoned, full of hope and rooted in grace—to lead the way. At once sweeping and deeply personal in its scope, Addiction Nation is an essential resource for anyone touched by addiction, which is all of us.”
Review by: Scot McKnight - April 22, 2019
“Addictions are too often condescendingly judged as indulgence born in a cycle of self-absorption. In Addiction Nation, Timothy McMahan King probes the opioid crisis personally, theologically, medically, and systemically. If King can find himself trapped in a cycle with opioids, so can you. This book is an eye-opener, a summons for those with quick judgments to think again, and for America’s churches to become active in compassion for what is, by all accounts, a growing problem.”
Review by: Richard Rohr - April 22, 2019
“Addiction Nation offers an important message at a critical time. Our culture of addiction—as evidenced by the opioid epidemic—needs practical and spiritual guidance. Timothy McMahan King offers trustworthy insights drawn from his own experience of addiction as well as from scientific research and spirituality. I believe this book can help our nations, our families, and individuals recover and find healing!”
Review by: R. Miller - April 22, 2019
“In his engaging book, Addiction Nation, Timothy McMahan King contends that our national opioid crisis is no accident. Addiction is not a choice that a few moral degenerates opt into but rather a pervasive and seductive dynamic in our culture that requires us to opt out. Through eyes of faith, King considers how we can ‘be not conformed’ to a world that fosters such idolatries.”