Moyers is remarried and himself the father of three children. When he was growing up, his family talked about all sorts of things, Washington politics, the Vietnam War, but not alcohol and drugs, he says. Now his children know that he and his wife, Allison, are recovering addicts, he says. They know that their family history means they will have a greater chance of becoming addicted. For him, being frank is key.

"This is what I tell kids all the time," he said during an interview at the Manhattan offices of his publisher, Viking. "Look, most young people are going to experiment with legal and illegal substances. And the vast majority are not going to develop a problem. That's why every generation survives long enough to become the next generation. But for a small but significant percentage of the population, of young people, that first joint or that third beer or that fifth line of meth is what plunges them over the edge. And so in the end young people need to know it's OK to ask for help. Nobody ever told me that."