THE GILDED RAZOR

A harrowing addiction memoir from a young writer who found himself at an upscale New York City prep school where kids are given drugs as easily as iPads, in the tradition of Augusten Burroughs and Bill Clegg.

Set amid the rarefied world of elite prep schools in New York City, The Gilded Razor is a haunting drug addiction memoir, in the tradition of Augusten Burroughs, Elizabeth Wurtzel and Bill Clegg. An academic all-star at the rarefied air of a Gossip Girl-esque prep school (where Paris Hilton once roamed the halls), Sam Lansky set out to make his Ivy League dream happen, caving to the pressures of the in-crowd. Rampant promiscuity, nonstop nightclubbing, substance abuse and disturbing affairs with older men were part of the extracurricular activities. Precocious yet troubled, he became addicted not just to the prescription pills, but to the drama of his life.

The book follows the sequence of events over the chaotic, outrageous and transformative years during which Sam's future, as well as his sanity, began to disintegrate. Through overdoses, car crashes, comas, and a string of rehabs ending in a psych ward in New Orleans, Sam spares no detail in relating the sometimes tragic, always heartfelt true story of his long road to recovery, finally facing himself in the process.

The Gilded Razor is a powerful tale of self-discovery and a portrait of the current teenage problems: overprivileged and underparented, self-possessed and self-involved, growing up too fast but entering adulthood completely unprepared.

Sam Lansky is the deputy culture editor at TIME magazine. He was previously the senior editor of SPIN's pop music website Idolator. He's written about entertainment and culture for New York, The Atlantic, Out, Esquire, Billboard, Cosmopolitan, Grantland, The Huffington Post, MTV.com and GQ. Follow him on Twitter @samlansky.