New York: Basic Books (Perseus), (1999) dj. Hardcover first edition - This writer and critic's first book described as "Cultural criticism masquerading as a heroin memoir masquerading as a dictionary, which looks at American society through the lens of heroin use. Weaving personal history (Marlowe used heroin for eight years) with aphorisms and analysis, . There is no glamorization of 'heroin chic,' nothing about the irresistible power of the drug, no cliched scenes of degradation and ecstasy. There is much about craving the validation of danger, about moving to the East Village, musicians' parties, being cool, and striving to remake yourself. [This] is the first book to examine heroin in relation to our cynical, post-consumer society, and the first to explain the profound nostalgia that powers both addiction and our age." 297 pp. ISBN: 0-465031501.