The silence and reluctance of author James A. Lynch's youth has been left behind; he has become a storyteller in the true form of grandfathers everywhere. In A Boy Named Jim, he provides a look into slices of his life. This memoir presents the true story of Lynch's journey from the innocence of childhood in a small midwestern town; through the rollicking good times of the teenage years, college, and navy life; through thirty years of the dark depths of chronic alcoholism; and finally through the process of recovery and sobriety. A Boy Named Jim tells of Lynch's heartbreaks and failures, as well as the miracles and faith that brought him back to reality to live the life of a spiritually peaceful and gracious old man. That morning ... I finally realized what I had become, what I was, and what I probably would always be: a hopeless, helpless drunk. I didn't amount to anything, never had, and never would. I feared I would probably die in a drunken stupor somewhere, or I would be permanently institutionalized. I didn't realize until sometime later, lying cut and bruised in a strange basement, I had been granted two important things: a moment of clarity and the gift of desperation.