
Empire of Pain
The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
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Narrated by:
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Patrick Radden Keefe
About this listen
National Book Critics Circle Nominee
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year
New York Times best seller
A grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin. From the prize-winning and best-selling author of Say Nothing
The history of the Sackler dynasty is rife with drama—baroque personal lives; bitter disputes over estates; fistfights in boardrooms; glittering art collections; Machiavellian courtroom maneuvers; and the calculated use of money to burnish reputations and crush the less powerful. The Sackler name has adorned 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 35 billion dollars in revenue, and to launch a public health crisis in which hundreds of thousands would die.
This is the saga of three generations of a single family and the mark they would leave on the world, a tale that moves from the bustling streets of early 20th-century Brooklyn to the seaside palaces of Greenwich, Connecticut, and Cap d’Antibes to the corridors of power in Washington, DC. Empire of Pain chronicles the multiple investigations of the Sacklers and their company, and the scorched-earth legal tactics that the family has used to evade accountability.
Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling. It is a portrait of the excesses of America’s second Gilded Age, a study of impunity among the super elite and a relentless investigation of the naked greed and indifference to human suffering that built one of the world’s great fortunes.
©2021 Patrick Radden Keefe (P)2021 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books of the Year • One of The Washington Post's 10 Best Books of the Year • TIME Magazine 100 Must Read Books of 2021 • One the Best Books of the Year: NPR, Slate, EW, Boston Globe, Goodreads, The Guardian, Town & Country, BuzzFeed, LitHub, Vulture, and more
Winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction and Finalist for the Baillie Gifford Winner of Winners Award
One of President Obama's Favorite Books of the Year
“An engrossing (and frequently enraging) tale of striving, secrecy and self-delusion….Keefe nimbly guides us through the thicket of family intrigues and betrayals… Even when detailing the most sordid episodes, Keefe’s narrative voice is calm and admirably restrained, allowing his prodigious reporting to speak for itself. His portrait of the family is all the more damning for its stark lucidity.”—Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times
“I read everything he writes. Every time he writes a book, I read it. Every time he writes an article, I read it … he’s a national treasure.”—Rachel Maddow, host of MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” and author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Blowout
“A true tragedy in multiple acts. It is the story of a family that lost its moorings and its morals… Written with novelistic family-dynasty and family-dynamic sweep, EMPIRE OF PAIN is a pharmaceutical FORSYTHE SAGA, a book that in its way is addictive, with a page-turning forward momentum.”—David M. Shribman, The Boston Globe
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Story
Between 1999 and 2017, an estimated 250,000 Americans died from overdoses involving prescription painkillers, a plague ignited by Purdue Pharma’s aggressive marketing of OxyContin. Families, working class and wealthy, have been torn apart, businesses destroyed, and public officials pushed to the brink. Meanwhile, the drugmaker’s owners, Raymond and Mortimer Sackler, whose names adorn museums worldwide, made enormous fortunes from the commercial success of OxyContin.
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Infuriating and Compelling
- By TiffanyD on 12-24-18
By: Barry Meier
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The Devil's Playbook
- Big Tobacco, Juul, and the Addiction of a New Generation
- By: Lauren Etter
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Big Tobacco meets Silicon Valley in this gripping exposé of what happened when two of the most notorious industries collided—and the vaping epidemic was born.
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Not Just Interesting, but Thrilling
- By Thomas J. Hind on 08-02-21
By: Lauren Etter
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Dreamland
- The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
- By: Sam Quinones
- Narrated by: Tom Jordan
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1929, in the blue-collar city of Portsmouth, Ohio, a company built a swimming pool the size of a football field; named Dreamland, it became the vital centre of the community. Now, addiction has devastated Portsmouth, as it has hundreds of small rural towns and suburbs across America—addiction like no other the country has ever faced. How that happened is the riveting story of Dreamland.
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Excellent
- By Joe on 08-01-22
By: Sam Quinones
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Bad Blood
- Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
- By: John Carreyrou
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the next Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup “unicorn” promised to revolutionize the medical industry with its breakthrough device, which performed the whole range of laboratory tests from a single drop of blood. Backed by investors such as Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, Theranos sold shares in a fundraising round that valued the company at more than $9 billion, putting Holmes’s worth at an estimated $4.5 billion.
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Extreme retaliation against former employees
- By LEE on 05-29-18
By: John Carreyrou
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Empire of Lust
- Empire of Lust, Book 1
- By: J. L. Beck
- Narrated by: Sierra Kline, Benjamin D. Walker
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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I made a mistake. At sixteen years old I fell for the wrong man. Callum Torrio. Ruthless billionaire. Dangerous villain. My best friend's father. At twenty one, I gave up hope that he would ever notice me. He’s twenty years older than me and an arms dealer for the mob. The smart choice would be to forget he ever existed. But that’s not possible. His icy blue gaze, sculpted physique, and huge rough hands play a vivid part in my dreams.
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Overall 5⭐️
- By Anonymous User on 04-20-23
By: J. L. Beck
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Stakeknife's Dirty War
- How Scappaticci, British Intelligence and Special Branch Ran the IRA
- By: Richard O'Rawe
- Narrated by: Alan Turkington
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Freddie Scappaticci was born in 1946 and raised in a deeply nationalist area of Belfast. When the Troubles broke out in 1969, he joined the Provisional IRA, where he quickly rose through the ranks, becoming commander of Belfast in 1984. From the outside, Scappaticci appeared to be a dedicated volunteer, but inwardly, he had become disenchanted with the IRA and, in 1977, he started working for British intelligence.
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Only losers in this ‘war’ were the Irish people
- By puplhunt on 03-11-24
By: Richard O'Rawe
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The Yank
- The True Story of a Former US Marine in the Irish Republican Army
- By: John Crawley
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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1975: A young Irish-American man joins an elite US Marine unit to get the most intensive military training possible—then joins the Irish Republican Army, during the days of some of the bloodiest fighting ever in the Irish-British conflict. It is a story that will see him running guns with American mobster—and secret IRA fundraiser—Whitey Bulger; running from safe house to safe house in the Irish countryside, one step ahead of British troops; fending off a recruitment offer from the CIA; and being one of the masterminds behind a campaign to take out London's electrical system.
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Reads like IRA fan fiction written by an unreliable narrator.
- By Blake Harllee on 04-01-24
By: John Crawley
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The Smartest Guys in the Room
- The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron
- By: Bethany McLean
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 22 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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The definitive volume on Enron's amazing rise and scandalous fall, from an award-winning team of Fortune investigative reporters.
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An excellent book, but with a missing chapter
- By Augustus T. White on 03-07-12
By: Bethany McLean
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The Troubles
- A Complete History of the Irish Troubles from the Plantation of Ulster and the Great Famine, to the Ira, the Formation of Northern Ireland and the Good Friday Agreement
- By: Dermot P. O'Hara
- Narrated by: Steven Rostance
- Length: 2 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Pocket History: The Troubles chronicles the 30 year long Irish Troubles. It begins right at the start with the first English invasion of Ireland and continues right up until present day, answering the question of what does the legacy of the troubles mean for modern day Irish and British people.
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Too slanted to be taken seriously
- By Ky on 01-25-22
By: Dermot P. O'Hara
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The Triumph of Injustice
- How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay
- By: Emmanuel Saez, Gabriel Zucman
- Narrated by: Steve Menasche
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Blending history and cutting-edge economic analysis, and writing in lively and jargon-free prose, Saez and Zucman dissect the deliberate choices (and sins of indecision) that have brought us to today: the gradual exemption of capital owners; the surge of a new tax avoidance industry; and the spiral of tax competition among nations. With clarity and concision, they explain how America turned away from the most progressive tax system in history to embrace policies that only serve to compound the wealth of a few.
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Smart book and tangible solutions
- By Graeme Newell on 01-02-20
By: Emmanuel Saez, and others
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The Snakehead
- An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins
- Abridged
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The Snakehead is a panoramic tale of international intrigue and a dramatic portrait of the underground economy in which America's 12 million illegal immigrants live. Based on hundreds of interviews, Patrick Radden Keefe's sweeping narrative tells the story not only of Sister Ping, but of the gangland gunslingers who worked for her, the immigration and law enforcement officials who pursued her, and the generation of penniless immigrants who risked death and braved a 17,000 mile odyssey so that they could realize their own version of the American dream.
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A Busman's Holiday
- By Amazon Customer on 02-24-20
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The Gunners
- By: Rebecca Kauffman
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Mikey Callahan, a 30-year-old who is suffering from the clouded vision of macular degeneration, is reconnecting with "The Gunners", his group of childhood friends, after one of their members has committed suicide. Sally had distanced herself from all of them before ending her life, and she died harboring secrets about the group and its individuals. Mikey especially needs to confront dark secrets about his own past and his father. How much of this darkness accounts for the emotional stupor Mikey is suffering from as he reaches his maturity?
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Keeps You Listening
- By Kathleen on 04-04-18
By: Rebecca Kauffman
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Above the Ground
- A True Story of the Troubles in Northern Ireland
- By: Dan Lawton
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1978, the bloody conflict in Northern Ireland, known as The Troubles, had reached a boiling point. Hundreds of members of the Irish Republican Army, determined to drive the hated British out of the province—killing soldiers and police, detonating bombs, while arming themselves with firearms and explosives—had been arrested and incarcerated in the notorious British prison known as the Maze.
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One man’s journey through the troubles
- By Steven D. Rosson on 07-28-24
By: Dan Lawton
What listeners say about Empire of Pain
Highly rated for:
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- Cris McBride
- 04-20-21
Wow! Now I understand the opioid epidemic!
Having come of age as Valium, then MS Contin, and Oxicontin became major approaches to dealing with anxiety and pain, and having heard physicians repeat the sales pitch they received from a drug sales rep, the information presented in this book was not only very interesting, but more important, very educational.
The author has been meticulous in researching the information that he presents. The book is well written, presenting the information in a historical context to explain how the Sackler family businesses managed to create and market the drugs that would destroy so many lives. I highly recommend this book.
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35 people found this helpful
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- Planalp
- 05-28-21
An excellent listen
To find so many people in one family who care only about themselves leads me to believe that narcissism may be hereditary.
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3 people found this helpful
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- hannah obstfeld
- 05-06-21
Thank you
Thank you to Patrick Radden Okeefe for all your years of research and wonderful writing.
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2 people found this helpful
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- HRM
- 04-27-21
Thoroughly researched, engrossing biography
Patrick Radden Keefe is an exceptional writer who illustrates the entire story of the Sackler family, from the late 1800s until present-day. There is enough emotion and emphasis in his writing to keep the attention of the layperson, and his reading of the book portrays his passion for the subject of the opioid epidemic. Upon finishing Empire of Pain, I am mystified by how the family hasn't been convicted of multiple crimes relating to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of citizens. Throughout this narrative, Keefe obviously has an opinion. But that opinion doesn't deter from his deliverance of the facts. An excellent example of superior journalism. Highly recommended.
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2 people found this helpful
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- LoveFromBothSides
- 04-25-21
Amazing important story!
You won’t be able to put this book down! Keefe does an amazing job of reporting, writing… But he’s a gifted actor as well.
When I suggested to my stepson, who is at Amazon, that he read this, he said, “He’s a friend… I already have the book. I have a bro crush on him, because he’s such a great guy, and
such a good writer. I want him to write something for us!”
I, on the other hand, hope Keefe has time to take on the Trumps. And expose another dirty Billionaire Dynasty… One that almost ended my democracy.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Member
- 07-02-21
Fascinating as it is tragic
Like Say Nothing, this a tremendously readable and researched book. This is a book I wish every American would read, or at the very least, learn the story which everybody should know.
From Book Two on, I was telling everybody I know about this title and imploring them to read it as I am now to anybody reading this review to do the same.
You will not regret making this purchase, or the time you spend listening to it.
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1 person found this helpful
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- dena man
- 01-07-22
Opioids
Too long and repetitive. Bad drug. Shameful doctors greedy people horrible family. Paid off judges.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Melissa B.
- 05-19-21
Intriguing
I didn't know much about this family, just tid bits from the news. This was a fascinating book. Made me sick from time to time because it's unfathomable to me that a person much less a family can be so greedy at the expense of human lives.
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- T. L. D
- 08-28-21
Must Read
This book is so good! It’s a different take on the Opioid crisis. I’ve read several book in this topic, one he referenced, Dreamland was great too! The Sackler’s have truly fascinated me because each generation feels like they are untouchable. They remind me a little of the Trump’s. But this book doesn’t necessarily look at the devastation that Oxy had on our community but more at how it happened. This is the second book I’ve read by Patrick and look forward to the next!
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- Jimmie J. Haessig
- 05-11-21
Corruption Personified
I was totally immersed in this book from start to finish. What a great read!!!
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