Read from "The Urge" and hear from its author

Many of us are accustomed to referring to addiction as a disease, rather than as a character flaw.

The author of a new book that explores the history of addiction has, himself, experienced addiction and actually wants that to change.

Carl Erik Fisher explained in an interview with NPR that calling addiction a disease empowered — or forced — the medical field to treat the issue, but it also allows us to ignore the socioeconomic and cultural factors that affect addiction and how we treat it.

Fisher explores those factors and also shares his own story in The Urge: Our History of Addiction.

One section of the book that might prove particularly interesting to our readers? The role that American authors played in pushing the temperance agenda.

Head to Literary Hub to read that excerpt from The Urge.

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