Empire of Pain
The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
-
- £6.99
-
- £6.99
Publisher Description
The shocking story of three generations of the Sackler family and their roles in the stories of Valium, OxyContin and the opioid crisis. The inspiration behind the Netflix series Painkiller, starring Uzo Aduba and Matthew Broderick.
Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction
The Sunday Times Bestseller
A BBC Radio 4 'Book of the Week'
Shortlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award
One of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of the Year
Shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction
'I gobbled up Empire of Pain . . . a masterclass in compelling narrative nonfiction.' – Elizabeth Day, The Guardian '30 Best Summer Reads'
The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied institutions like Harvard and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They are one of the richest families in the world, known for their lavish donations in the arts and the sciences. The source of the family fortune was vague, however, until it emerged that the Sacklers were responsible for making and marketing Oxycontin. A blockbuster painkiller that was a catalyst for the opioid crisis – an international epidemic of drug addiction which has killed nearly half a million people.
In this masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, award-winning journalist and author of Say Nothing (soon to be streaming on Disney+), Patrick Radden Keefe, exhaustively documents the jaw-dropping reality. Empire of Pain is the story of a dynasty, and twenty-first-century greed.
'There are so many "they did what?" moments in this book, when your jaw practically hits the page' – Sunday Times
‘You feel almost guilty for enjoying it so much’ – The Times
Customer Reviews
A must read
Absolutely fascinating. I am an avid reader of fiction but made a New Year’s resolution to read at least one non fiction book a month, a genre I had previously not paid much attention to…I started with this after watching Dopesick and was blown away by how compelling the story of the Sackler family is. The story is shocking even to those already familiar with the OxyContin scandal and all the more poignant for the devastating impact that is still being felt today in its aftermath. I have since read several other books by this author and would highly recommend them all.