Richie

A Father, His Son, and the Ultimate American Tragedy

By: Thomas Thompson

Narrated by: Shawn Compton

George Diener, World War II veteran and traveling salesman, and his wife, Carol, had old-fashioned values and ordinary aspirations: a home, a family, the pleasure of watching their two sons grow up. But in February 1972, an unthinkable tragedy occurred in the basement of their Nassau County residence, shattering their hopes and dreams forever.

George and Carol doted on their shy eldest son, Richie. But at 15, the boy fell into a devastating downward spiral. He started smoking marijuana, shoplifting, and hanging out with drug dealers, and was soon arrested for assault and expelled from school. By the time his parents sought psychiatric counseling for their son, Richie was addicted to barbiturates and given to violent outbursts and threats. The boy George and Carol knew was long gone. Then, one winter evening, Richie came at his father with a steak knife and a suicidal cry of "Shoot!"

Edgar Award-winning author Thomas Thompson delivers a "scary, harrowing" account of a turbulent era in American history when the gulf between young and old, bohemian and conservative, felt wider and more dangerous than ever before (the New York Times Book Review).

©1973 Thomas Thompson (P)2019 Tantor

Truly a great American Tragedy

This book was so much more than I was expecting. A tragic story of the sinister infiltration of drugs and the abuse of those drugs by the young people of America beginning in the early 1970’s. How those drugs ruined, and continue to devastate our country. This very sad story is but one account of the horror inflicted on but just one of probably millions of American families.

I was born just one year after Richie, so I lived through all this and saw and experienced this first hand within my own family as well as those of my friends and schoolmates.

A very sad but important book. 🫤

Heartbreaking

Richie would be my age. The drugs he was taking were the same that was going around at my school. Very relatable.

Interesting.

That was a good book about something I have never known before, if this happens before I was born. I did rate it somewhat lower than I would have, as midway through the book the author there’s into a “ say no to drugs“ type of pontification and appears to base his research on things that were assumed back in the 70s, which have been disproven in 2019 which is when this book is released. That is an irresponsible journalism.

Powerful Read- How Drugs Destroyed One Family

My heart ached for this family. I was Richie's age and remember so many of the details of this book in my own community. and social circle. While I personally didn't identify with Richie, I very much understood him and his contemporaries.
I'm thankful I didn't get into the drug scene which was escalating at an alarming pace at the time of this story.
And now I read this as a mother of 3 children with a different set of eyes- the eyes of Richie's parents.

This is the story of what drugs did to one family. It's truly an American tragedy that has played out over and over for so many.

The book was expertly written and while this is an old title it's timely as the drug war continues.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although enjoyed isn't really the word I'm looking for. It was a very good read/listen.

Is substance abuse an illness or a moral failure?

I liked the authenticity of the description of how the lack of resources were a factor in the tragedy. The narrative, of the background of the family and friends was thorough.
Voice actor had a clear and compelling manner of portraying the characters