I probably wouldn’t have bought a book called Porn Nation: Conquering America’s #1 Addiction, but that would have been my loss. After reading my free for-review copy, I can highly recommend Michael Leahy’s compelling narrative.

Yes, “narrative.” Leahy was addicted to pornography and sex for many years. The addiction destroyed his marriage, cost him jobs, and almost conquered him. Almost, until out of his deepest despair, something finally clicked and Leahy began the long, slow, difficult path to recovery.

The book, which reads very quickly, is in three parts. Part one chronicles Leahy’s personal addiction. In it he describes how his porn addiction manifested itself, the extent to which he was captive to it, and the slow climb away (influenced to a large extent by his Christian faith).

Part two discusses America’s current affixation with sex and porn. Statistics rich, part two goes into some depth explaining what studies show regarding the effects of the porn’s popularity. Leahy touches on the media’s involvement, emphasizes how the technology boom has empowered the porn industry, and notes the younger and younger sexualization (and sexual activity) of America’s youth.

Part three describes how one assess one’s own attachment to sex and pornography, how and where to seek help. Leahy concludes emphasizing what he’s taken away from his journey out of addiction. He writes, “this book really sharpens down to this one singular point: Relationships are life and pornography puts these relationships in peril–everything else is just a footnote.”

One would have to be living under a rock not to notice how highly sexualized our society has become. From Victoria Secret commercials, to porn spam (I get a heckuva lot on this blog already and am holding my breath after this post), to documentaries on the sex lives of young teenagers, America is a sexed-up place. So we should reflect and talk about it.

In my human sexuality class at St. Olaf, our professor shared the shocking statistic that the American pornography industry moves more money than the American pet industry. Leahy writes an even more shocking stat;

At $13.3 billion, the 2006 revenues of the sex and porn industry in the US were bigger than the revenues of the NFL, NBA, and Major Leagues Baseball combined.

Porn Nation is very well written, and interestingly religious. Leahy mentions his Christian faith from time to time, especially how it played a role in his recovery, but he does so very carefully, without undue force. What might have been a “come to Jesus book” is really the story of one man’s journey out of porn addiction with snippets of his faith aided the journey. For that careful balance, I was grateful.

Sure, I would have liked a bit deeper discussion of the statistics presented in part two. I would also have enjoyed hearing a bit more about what theological guidance Leahy received. But in 200 pages, I got a solid almost page-turning narrative, description, and reflection. So no complaints from me.

As happens with such reads, I’m left with a lot of questions, many professional.  How does a pastor approach a congregation knowing that, chances are, several are addicted to pornography? How best does a youth group leader approach discussions of sex and porn, adding a Christian perspective while also acknowledging the issue? How does one show the quiet and consequential effects of society’s hyper-sexualization–and how does one react against it?

Porn Nation doesn’t answer these questions, but brings them forward. It’s not an answer book, it’s a conversation starter. And for these many reasons, I’m thankful I read it.