I N C L U D E S A F F I L I A T E L I N K S
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Title: Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on DrugsAuthor: Johann Hari
Published: 2015
Language: English
Pages: 432
Rating: 4/5
Summary:
This book explores addiction, the war on drugs and how we may be able to solve the problem altogether.
Review:
This book spans several years and continents and takes a look at the history of the war on drugs, which is still ongoing. We get to know loads of different people in this book, some of which are historical figures but mostly people he met during his travels, and I think hearing the stories of the people he met were my favorite part. It adds humanity to the issue and makes it easier to connect to. I also really liked learning more about the beginning stages of the war on drugs and how that spread across the globe.
I think this topic is incredibly fascinating and important to talk about, but before I started this I'd read a lot of reviews saying this was a game changer which made me think it was going to offer up some revolutionary ideas and for me and although there were some parts I felt like I learned a lot from, a lot of main ideas were not new to me at all. Maybe I've just been aware of these things for a long time and I've looked into these things when they've come up for discussion in Norway, but I sometimes kept reading this and thinking: do people really not know this?
I do think this book sometimes feels a bit dense and one slight snag I have with this (and this is a thing that often annoys me in nonfiction books) is parts where the author writes about a historical figure and writes as if we can know what they were thinking and feeling, without stating a source of what information you based that on. I know it's to make it easier to understand that person and what may have been going on in their head, but we don't actually know.
I think this book is fantastic in the way it gathers up so much information about what's really going on with addiction, the use of drugs and the consequences of the war against it. It's definitely worth the read and I think for people who perhaps do not have a lot of experience or knowledge about the topic, this is a great educational book. I think it gives addiction a human face and for that, this is amazing.
You can read more about it on Goodreads
