Empire of Pain : : the Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty

Locations
Call Number: Adult Book / Nonfiction / True Crime / Keefe, Patrick Radden, 929.209 Ke
On Shelf At: Traverwood Branch, Westgate Branch

Genealogical table on lining papers.
Prologue: The taproot -- Patriarch. A good name ; The asylum ; Med man ; Penicillin for the blues ; China fever ; The octopus ; The Dendur derby ; Estrangement ; Ghost marks ; To thwart the inevitability of death -- Dynasty. Apollo ; Heir apparent ; Matter of Sackler ; The ticking clock ; God of dreams ; H-bomb ; Sell, sell, sell ; Ann Hedonia ; The Pablo Escobar of the new millennium ; Take the fall -- Legacy. Turks ; Tamperproof ; Ambassadors ; It's a hard truth, ain't it ; Temple of greed ; Warpath ; Named defendants ; The phoenix ; Un-naming -- Afterword.
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 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.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Pharma out of control submitted by kath on June 24, 2022, 2:38pm What starts out as a fine family business run by physicians is out of control in the pursuit of wealth. Interesting story of American greed.

Could. Not. Put. It. Down! submitted by courtneyhooper on August 10, 2022, 9:36pm This book shouldn’t be a page-turner—it’s about corporate greed, regulatory negligence, and ultimately, fatal substance use disorders on an epidemic scale. But each revelation about the depths of the Sacklers’ depravity is more shocking than the last! Having delivered my children in a wing of a hospital that had the Sacklers’ names on the wall, I couldn’t help but wonder how they had touched my and others’ lives without us knowing, and without ever paying a personal price. Patrick Radden Keefe writes with humor, outrage, and clarity a story of one very rich family worked very hard to distance themselves from, while at the same time working desperately to never lose a dime. His other works are equally compelling.

Sackler Family Greed submitted by hiker15 on July 15, 2023, 9:37pm The author lays out the greed of the Sackler family in pushing doctors to overprescribe OxyContin when they were well aware that it caused addiction and overuse. The really sad thing is that a Sackler clerical employee was prescribed Oxy for a pain issue and when she became addicted (using it as prescribed by a physician) they fired her. Reading about their lies and manipulation of the U.S. Food & Drug commission makes me sick. Totally an eye-opening book.

Interesting & Infuriating submitted by Maria Maguire on August 16, 2023, 11:42pm Incredibly told story of a despicable family and company. I was intially worried about the length of the book, concerned I wouldn't be able to finish it before I had to return it to the library. But I was so drawn in that I finished it in just a week and a half. The first section focuses on the early history of the Sackler family, before Purdue Pharma and oxycontin. At first I wasn't sure how this related, but Keefe draws a clear connection between the actions of the family then and now. It's fascinating to see the pattern that emerges in the family. Overall, the book is extremely informative and also, extremely infuriating.