The Light Years

From the street, the suburban New Jersey home Rush grew up in during the 1970s looked as if it belonged to any family living the American Dream. Inside, another reality existed: an angry and absent father, a histrionic mother, and kids left to fend for themselves. Introduced to drugs as an 11-year-old by a friend of his beloved older sister, Rush—a sensitive, artistic late bloomer who favored pink capes in a world of jocks and tougher kids—was launched into a terrifying, yearslong odyssey of boarding schools, nearly fatal hitchhiking trips, and life among sketchy entrepreneurs who kept America supplied with a steady stream of hallucinogenics. Intriguingly, Rush, who later became an artist, barely refers to his life after these tumultuous years, allowing them to remain the focus of this clear-eyed and fearless account of his time on the road and under the influence.