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My Last Drink: 32 stories of recovering alcoholics

by Ross Fitzgerald

Thirty-two accounts of getting sober

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AlbakiReads Editorial

Thirty-two accounts of getting sober

This collection brings together 32 unpublished accounts from people recovering from alcohol dependence, each addressing how they stopped drinking and maintained sobriety. The stories place individual experiences within a distinctly Australian frame, where “last drinks” has a familiar public meaning and also marks a private turning point. Brief excerpts point to varied circumstances, including family influences, imprisonment and the effort to keep a job. Ross Fitzgerald edits the collection; contributor Neal Price’s background includes community cultural development and oral histories.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in first-person accounts of recovery from alcohol dependence.
  • Readers seeking an Australian collection of personal stories about sobriety.
  • Readers interested in oral histories and lived experience.

Themes

Alcohol recovery and sobrietyPersonal testimonyWork and familyAustralian drinking culture

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

The notion of Last Drinks has entered deeply into the Australian lexicon, but there is another kind of Last Drink, the last one that an alcoholic takes before she or he gets sober. My Last Drink is a collection of inspiring and hitherto unpublished stories, original for this book, that canvass and explain how thirty-two recovering alcoholics managed to stop drinking and to stay stopped.

 

"The only person who I knew who didn't drink was my mother. She had a bottle of gin that lasted seven years."

- Mike

 

"Will you be staying in Sydney for your holidays, darling?" 'Yeah, I'm thinking I will be at Silverwater prison.'"

- Di Young - who got sober when she was eighteen.

 

"My wife answered and I called out 'Tell him I'm sick', and my boss said, 'Tell him he will be sick if he's not in here by 8 o'clock!' Getting off the grog saved my job."

- Davo

 

 

Ross Fitzgerald AM is Emeritus Professor of History & Politics at Griffith University and the author or co-author of 43 books. His most recent books are a memoir Fifty Years Sober: An Alcoholic's Journey and the co-authored political satires, The Dizzying Heights and The Lowest Depths, published by Hybrid in Melbourne. Professor Fitzgerald now lives in Redfern, Sydney.

 

Neal Price is an artist and writer who now lives in Hobart, Tasmania. He has long been engaged in the Community Cultural Development sector, with a focus on disability, mental health, ageing and oral histories.

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