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Patrick Radden Keefe

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty

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The Sackler family's story is told in Patrick Radden Keefe's book Empire of Pain, which explores their roles in the creation and marketing of OxyContin, which contributed to the opioid crisis. The book is a narrative masterpiece that exposes the family's greed and corruption.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 560 pages
Publication date: 03 March 2022
Publisher: Pan Macmillan


The gripping and 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.

The Sunday Times Bestseller Winner of the 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week Shortlisted for the 2021 Financial Times /McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2021 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

"You feel almost guilty for enjoying it so much – The Times"

The Sackler name adorns 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 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 host of the Wind of Change podcast Patrick Radden Keefe exhaustively documents the jaw-dropping and ferociously compelling reality.

"Empire of Pain" is the story of a dynasty: a parable of twenty-first-century greed.

There are so many "they did what?" moments in this book, when your jaw practically hits the page – Sunday Times

Weight: 354g
Dimension: 129 x 196 x 40 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781529063103

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