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

4.0

An excellent history of the Sacklers and their role in originating the opioid crisis. But split into two books and that ultimately hurt the narrative. The second book is the one you expect; it tells the story of the Sackler's significant contribution to the opioid crisis. While the first book dwells too long on an ultimately unadmirable Arthur Sackler and his obsession with art collecting. I'd have preferred the author to have instead spent some time on the things he admitted avoiding, such as an overview of the opioid crisis and all major players. This important context was largely missing.