Dear William, David Magee
Dear William, David Magee
3 Rating(s)
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Dear William
A Father's Memoir of Addiction, Recovery, Love, and Loss

Author: David Magee

Narrator: David Magee

Unabridged: 8 hr 31 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: BenBella Books

Published: 11/02/2021


Synopsis

Award-winning columnist and author David Magee addresses his poignant story to all those who will benefit from better understanding substance misuse so that his hard-earned wisdom can save others from the fate of his late son, William.

The last time David Magee saw his son alive, William told him to write their family’s story in the hopes of helping others. Days later, David found William dead from an accidental drug overdose.
 
Now, in a memoir suggestive of Augusten Burroughs meets Glennon Doyle, award-winning columnist and author David Magee answers his son's wish with a compelling, heartbreaking, and impossible to put down book that speaks to every individual and family.
 
With honesty and heart, Magee shares his family’s intergenerational struggle with substance abuse and mental health issues, as well as his own reckoning with family secrets—confronting the dark truth about the adoptive parents who raised him and a decades-long search for identity. He wrestles with personal substance misuse that began at a young age and, as a father, he sees destructive patterns repeat and develop within his own children. While striving to find a truly authentic voice as a writer despite authoring nearly a dozen previous books, Magee ultimately understands that William had been right and their own family’s history is the story he needs to tell.
 
A poignant and uplifting message of hope translates unimaginable tragedy into an inspirational commitment to saving others, as David founded the William Magee Institute for Student Wellbeing at the University of Mississippi. His mission to share solutions to self-medication and addiction, particularly as it touches America’s high school and college students, emphasizes that William’s story is about much more than a tragic addiction—it’s an American story of a family broken by loss and remade with love.
 
Dear William inspires readers to find purpose, build resilience, and break the cycles that damage too many individuals and the people who love them. It’s a life-changing book revealing how voids can be filled, and peace—even profound, lasting happiness—is possible.

About David Magee

David Magee is the author of Dear William: A Father's Memoir of Addiction, Recovery, Love and Loss, a Publisher's Weekly bestseller, named a Best Book of the South, and featured on CBS Mornings, and other non-fiction books. A changemaker in student and family mental health and substance misuse, he's creator and director of operations of The William Magee Institute for Student Wellbeing at the University of Mississippi and a frequent K-12 and university educational and motivational speaker, helping students find and keep their joy.


Reviews

Goodreads review by JanB on November 14, 2021

While the author lost his son to addiction, the book mostly talks about the generational effects of the author’s own struggles with addiction and a troubled childhood. It is a cautionary tale. Memoirs are tough to rate. After all, this is the author’s story to tell, and I wish him the best in his jou......more

Goodreads review by Novel Visits on December 05, 2021

Wow! I'm a real outlier on this one. I just felt like the title suggested the focus of the book was going to be on his son, William. Instead it was about the author, who I had a hard time liking or even garnering much sympathy for. I feel awful saying this about a memoir, which I never like to be cr......more

Goodreads review by Lauriegator on September 27, 2021

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for my review. I picked up this book not long after my 32 year old son’s death due to end stage alcoholism. I also have experience in 12 step programs. This was a great tool for me to help deal with the pain from losing my son to alcoholism. I......more

Goodreads review by Finney on November 03, 2021

Love this story and this family!! Great book on addiction,adoption,family, heart break,loss,college ,oxford MS, Redemption and HOPE! I highly recommend!!......more

Goodreads review by Juliet on October 30, 2024

This was well written but I felt it was more about the author's childhood than about his experience with his son William. It was interesting but not necessarily what I expected.......more