Holding: A Memoir About Mothers, Drugs, and Other Comforts

Frisbie Brogan, Karleigh. Holding: A Memoir About Mothers, Drugs, and Other Comforts. 2025. 304p. ISBN 9781586424121.

Always seeking her mother's love and never finding it, Karleigh felt that something was missing. One of six children in a reconstituted family, Karleigh attempts to escape her familial bonds through unsafe activities, culminating in becoming a junkie. Desperate for attention and care and resenting herself for it, Karleigh still finds herself drawn back to her mother. Holding is Karleigh's memoir that explores her painful journey through heroin addiction and the complex mother-daughter relationships that shaped her life. It offers a raw and honest look at her experiences, including the two years she spent living with her boyfriend's parents, Wayne and Glorianne, while hiding her addiction. During this time, Karleigh formed a deep but troubled bond with Glorianne, who became a surrogate mother figure. Simultaneously, Glorianne, an adoptee, was on her own quest to find her birth mother, creating a shared sense of longing and connection between the two women.

Ultimately, Karleigh's story is a powerful account of her struggle to break free from the cycle of addiction and deceit. It chronicles her path to sobriety, her efforts to mend the broken trust with her own mother, and her search for self-acceptance. The memoir is a deeply personal and universal story, offering insights into the complexities of family, addiction, and the resilience of the human spirit.

Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age

Ohler, Norman. Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age. 2024. 226p. ISBN 9780358646501.

In the chaotic aftermath of World War II in Berlin following the collapse of Nazism, drug use saw a resurgence. Long repressed by Nazi authorities, the drug trade and associated crime burgeoned in a city laid to waste by years of war. Berlin, divided among the Allied powers, saw varying drug policies implemented, with the American zone becoming a focal point for researching and investigating Nazi anti-drug laws. At the same time, with the Cold War engulfing the world and dividing it into two camps, American research into mind control drugs increased, and the seizure of Nazi archives on psychedelic research, particularly concerning mescaline and LSD, provided new avenues for experiments.

LSD, created in Switzerland following research into a grain infection, became the foundation for the CIA's infamous MKUltra program. This program, focused on brainwashing and psychological torture, significantly influenced American drug policy for decades, particularly regarding psychedelics. As the substance became widely distributed, however, the American government lost control of the narrative and moved to ban what it saw as a drug worse than heroin. As a result, therapeutic research was hindered, and many people became victims of the so-called war on drugs. 

With a push towards decriminalization, more research is now being conducted on how LSD and other psychedelics can be used to treat mental illness and aging-related diseases like Alzheimer. Fans of history will appreciate the scholarship that went into researching this thorough history of a little-known drug with an oversize reputation.