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

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

it was certainly illuminating to hear the story of the origins of the US opioid epidemic, laid out so matter-of-factly. this is well researched and well presented, and 100% horrifying. after a bit of a slow start, lingering on the original rich sackler and his personal affairs, this really got going into how one family made their incredibly vast fortune on the suffering of others. every sentence in this book was more shocking than the one before it, yet somehow i am left completely unsurprised by everything i read. it really just highlights how systemic the immorality of capitalism is in the united states - rich people first, everyone else later.