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starrysteph 's review for:
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
by Patrick Radden Keefe
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Wow. Empire of Pain was an incredibly detailed, well-crafted, and narratively gripping piece of nonfiction.
This is the story of the Sackler family, told over decades and three generations. It’s filled to the brim with diligently researched investigative journalism - but also engaging storytelling.
“They resented being cast as the villains in a drama, but it was their own stunted, stubborn blindness that made them so well suited to the role. They couldn’t change.”
The creation and rise of OxyContin (via the Sacklers and their empire) is horrifying. These pages are filled with callousness & denial inside the insulated walls of Purdue Pharma and a staggering amount of grief & loss from all those impacted by this epidemic.
It’s a hard read emotionally, and the writing is also a bit slow at the start, but this one chilled me. You feel like you’re right there alongside them - and boy does that get disturbing, infuriating, and frustrating.
CW: descriptions of addiction & drug use, suicide, death, gaslighting, ableism, antisemitism, racism, chronic illness, epidemic
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