Reviews with content warning for Addiction - Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty

Would you like to feel angry? Or perhaps deeply frustrated?
Would you like to stare at a page in utter disbelief at the callousness of your fellow human beings toward other fellow human beings?
Would you like to be so angered so much by something you read that you slam a book shut and have to walk away for awhile before you finish reading?
Would you like to feel sympathy and then a hundred pages later feel so guilty for feeling that sympathy that you are forced to confront the complexities of reality and the true nature of good and evil?

Well then do I have a book for you!

I truly believe this to be a must read when it comes to understanding the last quarter century, the story of which is heavily entwined with the opioid crisis. That said, it is not a easy read. That is not because of Keefe's writing, which is thoughtful and engaging, but because the subject at hand is a gut punch.

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dancingdugongs's review against another edition

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dark informative medium-paced

4.5

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hilaryreadsbooks's review against another edition

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5.0

[Thank you Anchor Books for the gifted copy]

Many of us know that powerful people are capable of terrible things, but many of us do not know what those terrible things often are. Patrick Radden Keefe’s EMPIRE OF PAIN: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE SACKLER DYNASTY is an incredible tome of research and investigation that exposes just a part of this terrible world. Focused less on the actual opioid epidemic, EMPIRE OF PAIN hones in on this powerful family and how greed, ambition, and power led to this crisis. Keefe writes with empathy and clarity, and his storytelling, as it was with SAY NOTHING, was phenomenal. Even at 500 pages, I finished this book in just two nights.

What stood out to me the most was the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma’s manipulation of pain patients (and I appreciate Keefe’s note at the end explaining his intention to not contribute to stigmatization of those who use opioids, but rather to demonstrate that the Sacklers and Purdue “have for decades invoked the interests of pain patients as a fig leaf for their own avarice.” The facts that Keefe presents behind this are sobering—there were multiple instances where the Sacklers and other Purdue executives ignored addiction data that foresaw the crisis; instead, they would deny any links and continue to sell Oxy, even using pain patients as examples of Oxy’s effectiveness in their ads. There was, as well, Purdue Pharma’s intention to start selling addiction treatment drugs that target the very market of addiction they created (a business model used by many big pharma companies).

EMPIRE OF PAIN will stay with me for a long time.

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mc235's review against another edition

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dark informative sad medium-paced

5.0

I listened to the audiobook of this and was gripped throughout. I think I might have struggled with the first section of the book had I been reading it, but overall for such an enormous book it was very well paced. Incredibly thorough indictment of the Sacklers and the pharmaceutical industry.

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stephaniezd's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

Impeccably researched and compelling in it's telling. Easily the best non-fiction I have read this year. I have already recommended to several people. Jaw-dropping at times in the unabashed ridiculousness that the focuses of the tale engaged in. Just an incredible story.

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orireading's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative slow-paced

5.0

luv u patrick radden keefe <3

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kdsmoove's review against another edition

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dark informative sad slow-paced

5.0

“It is a peculiar hallmark of the American economy that you can produce a dangerous product and effectively off-load any legal liability for whatever destruction that product may cause by pointing to the individual responsibility of the consumer.”

*insert annie screaming gif”

the amount of times i screamed at the radio or texted someone “just when i thought these people couldn’t get any worse, they fucking do!” throughout reading this is not a low number. when i tell you i was HOOKED from the beginning and somehow not intimidated by the length.

i knew some about the opioid crisis, even enough to associate the sackler name with it but i had *no idea* just how deep the rot went. i didn’t realize that arthur sackler was the mastermind behind the way the entire pharmaceutical marketing schemes work now. that he basically invented sales and created his own fucking sources and oh my GOD. it was a solid five or six hours in before we even got to Reagan and i did the whole *leo pointing at the tv gif* thing to the stereo.

and of course today to tidy it up it HAD to be the fucking trump administration willing to let them off with a slap on the wrist. i am so mad, i will be staying mad. you should read this. but beware, there’s a lot of trigger warnings to check and it will make you very mad. One of the lines he used was “rip shit pissed” which sounds a lot funnier out loud than it does written down but i will be using it moving forward.

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