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The cover of Empire of Pain

Empire of Pain

Patrick Radden Keefe, 2021

How the Sacklers profited from marketing Valium and selling OxyContin, put their name on museums, and faced prosecutors, states and protesters over Purdue Pharma's role in the opioid crisis.

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31 parts, about 48 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Traces one family dynasty across three generations, from drug advertising pioneers to the owners behind OxyContin
  • Shows how marketing, captured regulators, lenient prosecutions and bankruptcy law let a fortune survive a public health disaster
  • Builds its case from depositions, sealed company records and prosecution memos, told as a family history

Who it is for

  • Readers trying to understand how the opioid crisis began
  • Doctors and pharmacists wary of how drug marketing shapes prescribing
  • People interested in philanthropy, museums and reputation laundering

What the summary covers

  1. Prologue: The Taproot2 min
  2. A Good Name1 min
  3. The Asylum1 min
  4. Med Man2 min
  5. Penicillin for the Blues2 min
  6. China Fever1 min
  7. The Octopus2 min
  8. The Dendur Derby2 min
  9. Estrangement2 min
  10. Ghost Marks1 min
  11. To Thwart the Inevitability of Death1 min
  12. Apollo1 min
  13. Heir Apparent2 min
  14. Matter of Sackler1 min
  15. The Ticking Clock2 min
  16. God of Dreams2 min
  17. H Bomb1 min
  18. Sell, Sell, Sell2 min
  19. Ann Hedonia2 min
  20. The Pablo Escobar of the New Millennium2 min
  21. Take the Fall2 min
  22. Turks1 min
  23. Tamperproof1 min
  24. Ambassadors1 min
  25. It's a Hard Truth, Ain't It2 min
  26. Temple of Greed1 min
  27. Warpath1 min
  28. Named Defendants2 min
  29. The Phoenix2 min
  30. Un Naming2 min
  31. Afterword1 min

Recommended by

  • Rachel MaddowHost of The Rachel Maddow Show and author of Blowout

About the author

  • Patrick Radden KeefeAmerican writer and investigative journalist
    • Grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
    • Earned a B.A. in history from Columbia University in 1999.
    • Earned a J.D. degree from Yale Law School.
    • Has been a staff writer at The New Yorker, contributing investigative reporting to the magazine since 2006.
    • His investigative reporting has covered drug trafficking, organized crime, The Troubles, the opioid epidemic and financial crime.
    • His book Say Nothing received the National Book Critics Circle Award and was named one of the twenty best books of the 21st century by The New York Times Book Review.
    • His work has been recognized with a Guggenheim Fellowship, the National Magazine Award for Feature Writing and the Orwell Prize for Political Writing.
    • Hosts the 2020 podcast Wind of Change, which explores a rumor that the Scorpions song was secretly written by the CIA.

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