Books in Brief: The Natural History of Alcoholism

THE NATURAL History of Alcoholism: Causes, Patterns, and Paths to Recovery, by George E. Vaillant (Harvard, 359 pp., $25)

Is alcoholism a disease? Can alcoholics ever return to social drinking without losing control? Does Alcoholics Anonymous really work? The answers, according to Harvard’s George E. Vaillant, are: Yes; once in a while; and surprisingly often. Just plain old common sense? Not at all. Indeed, Dr. Vaillant’s answers signal a genuine revolution in the field of alcoholism research, for they derive from the Harvard Medical School’s four-decade Study of Adult Development, a program that began monitoring the lives of 660 Bostonarea men before any of them became alcoholics. A psychiatrist with ten years as codirector of the Cambridge Hospital Alcohol Program under his belt, Dr. Vaillant has combined clinical experience with an unprecedented amount of empirical data to produce what may ultimately come to be viewed as the single most important contribution to the literature of alcoholism since the first edition of AA’s Big Book. Though The Natural History of Alcoholism is written for professionals, its substance can easily be grasped by any intelligent layman willing to chop through an occasional thicket of psycho-statistical jargon. Very highly recommended.