Book Log 2022 #47: Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

This book, expanded from the New Yorker article "The Family that Built an Empire of Pain," tells the story of the Sackler family, whose fortune and later downfall came via their company Purdue Pharma and the drug oxycodone, which fueled the opioid epidemic. The book shows in great detail how the family continued to market the drug even when it was clear it was being prescribed in a way to invite abuse, and the ways in which they tried to avoid liability. It also follows the people who saw the problem and their fight to bring the family, and the company, to justice.

This is a tremendous book, long but well worth the investment of time. The focus on the family is especially helpful, as it puts names and faces to actors who, in the vast majority of coverage, got to hide behind the family and company names. While the subjects are different, I think of this book as a companion piece to Bad Blood in how both displayed how greed and ego can be used to dupe the public and, if unchecked, can cause great harm.