Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

140 reviews

jhbandcats's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

The first section of Empire of Pain is background on the three brothers who started what became Perdue Pharma; the rest of the book is about how OxyContin came to destroy so many lives. The whole experience of reading the second and third sections of this book is one of deep frustration and often anger. 

Keefe’s dense, heavily researched account of the rise of the Sackler family (they developed Valium so they were knew about addiction from early on) and the way they created the opioid epidemic is absolutely maddening. To see them literally getting away with murder is, well, criminal. 

Keefe interviewed two hundred people and had access to hundreds of thousands of pages of correspondence and depositions. He’s able to wade through this mass of information and create a cohesive, easily understood narrative. I know little about medicine and even less about business but the story he details was accessible even to a layman. 

Literally more than half the book includes references, footnotes, an index - this is a phenomenally well-documented work. Everyone should read it. It’s a testament to how the rich control the lives of the rest of us. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Trafficking, Drug use, Gaslighting, Suicide, Addiction, Cancer, and Chronic illness

eelizard's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Addiction, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, and Medical content

jiao_li's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative slow-paced

4.25

"Empire of Pain" is a meticulously researched biography, no wonder it won the Best History and Biography at Goodreads Awards. Rather than telling the history of Purdue Pharma or OxyContin, this book is more focused on the Sackler family. It will take you back far, starting from Isaac Sackler, the father of the three original Sackler family members. 

I just finished "House of Gucci" not long ago, and it kinda gave me the same vibes as this book. Although I like this book more because Keefe's storytelling is really good. And the fact that the Sacklers are smarter (they're doctors after all) than the Guccis makes their story more interesting. Keefe's writing successfully portrays the Sacklers as intelligent but cunning figures. 

The book's structure especially makes the reading more enjoyable, and it made the story flow seamlessly. I think Keefe's ability to evoke emotion is plausible. I like that he writes the Sacklers as greedy people who made people addicted to drugs because they were addicted to money.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Suicide

_meeg's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Medical trauma, Grief, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Moderate: Death

courtneyfalling's review against another edition

informative fast-paced

3.5

I listened to this as an audiobook, and it was definitely better in that format. Lots of information on the Sackler family’s history and social abuses in Purdue Pharma. Sometimes hard to follow, more of a book to reference or take bigger-picture themes from, but really well-researched. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse

radmartigan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug abuse, and Addiction

ginnydw's review against another edition

challenging dark informative tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use and Drug abuse

Minor: Suicide

korpney's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt

laurenleigh's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

I am telling everyone to read this, especially when read alongside Demon Copperhead!! This was exactly what I want out of nonfiction. I want to learn, but while being engaged in a cohesive narrative. The amount of research Keefe has done is staggering, but he has communicated his findings so clearly. I was so hooked the whole time, even when I was enraged. (Greed is one hell of a drug.) After reading this and Kingsolver’s aforementioned novel, I feel so much more informed on the opioid crisis. It’s terrifying, depressing, and fascinating to see the similarities between the pharmaceutical, tobacco, and firearms industries. Radden doesn’t necessarily make his stance on the subject a secret, but he also doesn’t throw it constantly in your face.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Medical content, Grief, Classism, Terminal illness, and Suicide

lottiestarling's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Addiction