Author Charles Monroe-Kane, a Madison resident and Peabody Award-winning public radio producer, has written a powerful and revealing memoir that takes readers on an adventurous journey into the heart of mental illness. Lithium Jesus: A Memoir of Mania is Monroe-Kane’s valiant attempt to put his life experiences into perspective, from humanitarian activism to raucous nightlife involving sex, drugs and experimentation.
After being raised in an eccentric Midwestern family and fervently turning to religion as a teenager, Monroe-Kane flees for far-flung regions of the world in an unsuccessful attempt to find salvation from his addictions. All the while, Monroe-Kane bravely struggles to outrun the voices in his head before finally, after 15 years without the aid of medication, he makes peace with his inner turmoil. Primarily focused on his formative, tumultuous 20s, Lithium Jesus is a gritty and fast-paced story that brings a fresh perspective to a familiar chronicle involving mental health.
Monroe-Kane is a senior producer and interviewer for the public radio program “To the Best of Our Knowledge,” has reported for National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” and has been featured on “This American Life.
