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alexblackreads 's review for:
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
by Patrick Radden Keefe
This book is an amazing feat in research. There's so much information over three generations of the Sackler family and Keefe puts it together so well. This was fascinating start to finish.
This is exactly what it says it's going to be, a history of the Sackler family from Arthur Sackler who basically ran his brothers' lives and businesses to the second generation who pioneered Oxycontin to the third generation who were born into obscene wealth and privilege. I'd read other books about Oxycontin and Purdue pharma, but nothing specifically on the Sackler family so I had no idea how involved they were and how much they spearheaded a lot of the illegal moves, all the way back to Arthur Sackler pushing Valium. I knew about their marketing for Oxycontin in the 90s and 2000s, but I didn't know they'd used that same marketing before.
My only real gripe on this was that sometimes the flow of the book seemed a little choppy. Like he'd focus too much on an outsider's story, probably because that outsider was his main source of information, and then he'd jump to an entirely different issue. I get that it's just a limitation in information which isn't on Keefe, but there were a few times where this flow of information was a little jarring. (An easy example is how thoroughly he covered Arthur's childhood and then started on his relationship with Marietta, skipping over his first marriage and first two children.)
This whole book is just an example of how screwed up capitalism and the pharmaceutical industry are. Like we all know and it doesn't come as a surprise, but it's different to really see all the different ways that corruption and greed led to where we are now. Like after being repeatedly sued in America for the illegal and morally wrong ways that they marketed Oxycontin, once sales started dipping, they decided to go ahead and start marketing it the exact same way in other countries. It's really astounding.
I'd highly recommend this. It's fascinating and I learned so much. I will say, if you're looking for something specifically about the opioid crisis, this book is not that. It's very much focused on the family themselves, and I think it's a triumph. I am so glad I picked this up. And I think the audiobook is fantastic as well.
This is exactly what it says it's going to be, a history of the Sackler family from Arthur Sackler who basically ran his brothers' lives and businesses to the second generation who pioneered Oxycontin to the third generation who were born into obscene wealth and privilege. I'd read other books about Oxycontin and Purdue pharma, but nothing specifically on the Sackler family so I had no idea how involved they were and how much they spearheaded a lot of the illegal moves, all the way back to Arthur Sackler pushing Valium. I knew about their marketing for Oxycontin in the 90s and 2000s, but I didn't know they'd used that same marketing before.
My only real gripe on this was that sometimes the flow of the book seemed a little choppy. Like he'd focus too much on an outsider's story, probably because that outsider was his main source of information, and then he'd jump to an entirely different issue. I get that it's just a limitation in information which isn't on Keefe, but there were a few times where this flow of information was a little jarring. (An easy example is how thoroughly he covered Arthur's childhood and then started on his relationship with Marietta, skipping over his first marriage and first two children.)
This whole book is just an example of how screwed up capitalism and the pharmaceutical industry are. Like we all know and it doesn't come as a surprise, but it's different to really see all the different ways that corruption and greed led to where we are now. Like after being repeatedly sued in America for the illegal and morally wrong ways that they marketed Oxycontin, once sales started dipping, they decided to go ahead and start marketing it the exact same way in other countries. It's really astounding.
I'd highly recommend this. It's fascinating and I learned so much. I will say, if you're looking for something specifically about the opioid crisis, this book is not that. It's very much focused on the family themselves, and I think it's a triumph. I am so glad I picked this up. And I think the audiobook is fantastic as well.