Columbus State University Assistant Professor of English Joe Miller will conduct research in Lyndon B. Johnson’s Presidential Library this August thanks to a $1,560 Moody Research Grant.

Miller’s research will focus on the understanding and treatment of alcoholism. It is the topic of his new book, “US of AA: Science, Alcoholism, and the Rise and Fall of the Twelve Steps,” which was recently accepted for publication by Chicago Review Press, one of the nation’s leading independent publishers.

“I am excited and grateful for the opportunity to travel to Austin to conduct research in President Johnson’s archives,” Miller said. “Johnson was the first president to identify alcoholism as a disease and his administration laid the groundwork for the establishment of the National Institute for Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse. I hope to find information in his papers that will help me tell the story of how he came to view alcoholism as a high-priority public health issue.”

“US of AA” is a narrative history of how America’s understanding and treatment of alcoholism has evolved over the last 70 years. It tells the story of how our understanding of problem drinking and drug abuse changed from a matter of morality to one of pathology, how Alcoholics Anonymous became our nation’s de facto treatment policy for treating it, and how, in light of new science funded and led by the NIAAA, our understanding is changing once again, moving away from a singular reliance on AA toward an ever broadening array of medicines and therapy approaches that have proven success rates, Miller said.

Miller’s trip to Austin will be paid for by a Moody Research Grant, which is underwritten by The Moody Foundation of Galveston, TX. The LBJ Foundation awards a limited number of grants each year, and the selection process is highly competitive.