Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty

“It’s a brilliantly told story and, again, fits into the compelling and enjoyable category very, very well. It’s also enraging for the reader. Radden Keefe has done a great job of maintaining objectivity while painting a picture of the way in which people connected to Purdue seemingly evaded responsibility for the problems it allegedly triggered.” Read more...

The Best Business Books: the 2021 FT & McKinsey Book Award

Andrew Hill, Journalist

“It’s an extraordinary book. He’s writing of extraordinary things, but that alone won’t make it a good book. There’s incredible artistry in putting this story together. And because he has a very transparent style—he’s a New Yorker staff writer—and it’s not fancy, it’s very easy to say, ‘Well, he just had to research it and write it down.’ But no, it’s incredibly beautifully done. It’s about the Sackler scandal, this family that’s made a fortune out of Oxycontin, this very, very addictive opioid that’s killed more Americans than have died in all the wars the country has fought since the Second World War. What he does is go back and look at the origins of the company, Purdue Pharma. It’s a fascinating story. It’s an immigrant family, Russian Jewish. The father has a grocer’s shop. They work incredibly hard. Against all the odds the three boys, the first generation, all become doctors. It is the American dream. They’re doing something extraordinary and it’s admirable at the start.” Read more...

The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize Shortlist

Kathryn Hughes, Literary Scholar

“It’s a perfect blending of family history, dynastic shenanigans on a par with the Borgias, combined with a story that has just ruined so many people’s lives.”

Narrator: Patrick Radden Keefe

Length: 18 hours and 6 minutes

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