Urban Religion and the Origins of Addiction Recovery
2:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 22, 2015 at the William Clapp House
Eoin Cannon, aide to Boston’s Mayor Martin J. Walsh and author of The Saloon and the
Mission. Tales of surviving the depths of addiction are among the most popular
stories in American culture today, combining compelling drama with spiritual uplift and
psychological insight. At the same time, story-telling plays an important role in recovery
practices. When did Americans start telling recovery stories and why? Eoin Cannon traces
this phenomenon to the evangelical Christian missions run by reformed drunkards in
American cities in the late 19th century.