Such Unfortunates

 Such Unfortunates, Andrew Mann, Independently Published, 2019

In light of the present-day opioid epidemic, this is one person's story of beating addiction in the face of a huge amount of odds stacked against him.

Growing up in an upper-class family in New Jersey, from the outside, everything was fine. Behind closed doors, however, the amount of emotional and sexual abuse the author suffered (at the hands of his own family) was mind-boggling. Andrew quickly became addicted to any drug that would take away his depression, anxiety and panic attacks. There were multiple stints in rehab, jail, being homeless and even being considered dead. When things were at their worst, people came into his life to help him find the real reasons for his addiction.

Wow (and not in a good way)! The amount of abuse the author suffered at the hands of his own family was insane. For anyone who knows someone who is addicted to opioids, read this book. For anyone who is addicted to opioids, and wants to break the habit, read this book. It is highly recommended.

The Delmont Street Gang

The Delmont Street Gang, Eric A Mann, CreateSpace, 2012

This is a look at life in the 1960's and 1970's in the town of Manchester Connecticut, a few miles east of Hartford, the state capital.

It was a time when young people played outside until dark, with no parental supervision. There was no such thing as supervised play dates. There were just three or four channels on TV, and no cell phones or video games, so there was no choice but to play outside. The local baseball field was a bare patch of ground next to the local elementary school. In an attempt to make it look more like a major league field, numbers were painted on the wall of the school showing the distance from home plate. School officials were not amused. Things got deadly serious when one of the group was hit by a car and killed instantly.

It was a time when it was nothing for kids to get on public transportation, spend the day in Hartford, and come home, all without parental supervision. A person could watch a movie, with popcorn and soda, at the State Theater on Main Street (now a fundamentalist church) for one dollar or less. Winter meant throwing snowballs at passing cars. Summer meant building forts with material pilfered from local construction sites. To the parents, corporal punishment was a normal part of raising a child. If a kid wanted to go somewhere in town, like to the local municipal swimming pool, they rode their bike or they walked. There was no parental taxi service.

Full disclosure: I was born and raised in Manchester, so I am automatically going to love this book. I grew up in the same time period, but in a different part of town. This book brought back a lot of memories. For anyone else, the stories in this book could take place in any town in America. It is well worth reading.