In The Culture of Recovery, media analyst and critic Elayne Rapping demonstrates the broad reach of the recovery movement and, while acknowledging its positive aspects, alerts us to its political dangers. She traces the interconnected recovery "industry," from talk shows to drug treatment centers, and examines its impact on contemporary political life.

Condemning the movement for ignoring real social problems, Rapping nonetheless makes a surprising argument: that the recovery phenomenon owes much of its success to the insights and strategies of second-wave feminism, even as it turns its back on the women's movement's political message.