Routledge Wasted: Performing Addiction in America Book

Wasted: Performing Addiction in America explores the material and lived experience of addiction through the lens of a "metaphor of waste." Published by Routledge, this work moves beyond traditional scholarly treatments of addiction as mere rhetoric. Instead, it examines how addiction is shaped by the way individuals are described, the actual experience of inebriation, and the systematic exclusion of people from American culture. Through detailed analyses of scientific and popular cultural texts, this book investigates various media forms including novels, films, and reality television. It examines the impact of medical models, TV dramas, and public health or anti-addiction messaging on our understanding of the subject. This text provides a deep look into how media and popular culture influence the perception and reality of addiction in the United States.