Who Would Like This Book:
This is an expertly written, deeply investigated expose that reads more like a high-stakes thriller than dry non-fiction. Patrick Radden Keefe dives into the secretive, powerful Sackler family behind Purdue Pharma - the company that brought OxyContin and untold devastation to the U.S. through the opioid crisis. History buffs, true crime aficionados, lovers of juicy business scandals, and anyone interested in the intersection of medicine, capitalism, and morality will be transfixed.
Who May Not Like This Book:
Some readers feel overwhelmed by the book's length and level of detail - it’s a hefty read at nearly 600 pages and can veer into exhaustive territory. Others critique the narrative for focusing heavily on the Sacklers and not enough on the broader opioid industry or the victims’ perspectives. A few also wish for a bit more journalistic distance, feeling the book leans into moral condemnation. If you prefer quick reads or stories that steer clear of outrage, this may not be for you.
About:
'Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty' by Patrick Radden Keefe delves into the unflinching examination of the Sackler family and their role in the opioid crisis in the United States. It uncovers the harsh reality of a family without compassion, the devastating impact of their pharmaceutical empire, and the systemic failure to hold them accountable. The author skillfully weaves together a narrative that reads like a thriller, providing an eye-opening and informative account of the greed, corruption, and lack of empathy that fueled the opioid epidemic.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
The book contains high content warnings for discussions of addiction, overdose, and the resulting deaths tied to the opioid crisis.
From The Publisher:
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER
A grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin. From the prize-winning and bestselling author of Say Nothing
The history of the Sackler dynasty is rife with drama-baroque personal lives; bitter disputes over estates; fistfights in boardrooms; glittering art collections; Machiavellian courtroom maneuvers; and the calculated use of money to burnish reputations and crush the less powerful. The Sackler name has adorned the walls of many storied institutions-Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oxford, the Louvre. They are one of the richest families in the world, known for their lavish donations to 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 a blockbuster painkiller that was the catalyst for the opioid crisis.
Empire of Pain begins with the story of three doctor brothers, Raymond, Mortimer and the incalculably energetic Arthur, who weathered the poverty of the Great Depression and appalling anti-Semitism. Working at a barbaric mental institution, Arthur saw a better way and conducted groundbreaking research into drug treatments. He also had a genius for marketing, especially for pharmaceuticals, and bought a small ad firm.
Arthur devised the marketing for Valium, and built the first great Sackler fortune. He purchased a drug manufacturer, Purdue Frederick, which would be run by Raymond and Mortimer. The brothers began collecting art, and wives, and grand residences in exotic locales. Their children and grandchildren grew up in luxury.
Forty years later, Raymond's son Richard ran the family-owned Purdue. The template Arthur Sackler created to sell Valium-co-opting doctors, influencing the FDA, downplaying the drug's addictiveness-was employed to launch a far more potent product: OxyContin. The drug went on to generate some thirty-five billion dollars in revenue, and to launch a public health crisis in which hundreds of thousands would die.
This is the saga of three generations of a single family and the mark they would leave on the world, a tale that moves from the bustling streets of early twentieth-century Brooklyn to the seaside palaces of Greenwich, Connecticut, and Cap d'Antibes to the corridors of power in Washington, D.C. Empire of Pain chronicles the multiple investigations of the Sacklers and their company, and the scorched-earth legal tactics that the family has used to evade accountability.
Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling. It is a portrait of the excesses of America's second Gilded Age, a study of impunity among the super elite and a relentless investigation of the naked greed and indifference to human suffering that built one of the world's great fortunes.
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