Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Unfettered Capitalism and the American Dream

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

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This is an absolutely fascinating work of family history, that just happens to also be a searing indictment of that family’s contribution to the opioid crisis. The first chunk of this book details the origins of the Sackler family. In some ways, it’s a truly American success story: the three brothers, Arthur, Mortimer, and Raymond, were the children of immigrants. All became doctors. The three brothers purchased a small pharmaceutical company in the early 1950’s (Purdue Pharma), which Mortimer and Raymond mostly ran while Arthur […]

Long Form Articles Brought Together

Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks by Patrick Radden Keefe

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Best for: People looking for some quality long-form writing about some interesting and disturbing characters. In a nutshell: Keefe brings together essays he’s written for magazines over the past decade or so. Worth quoting: N/A – Audio book Why I chose it: Loved his past two books – didn’t realize this was a collection of long essays. Review: This is not a bad book. It was not exactly what I was looking for, but I did still enjoy it. I listened to each essay in […]

“I’ll die young, but it’s like kissing God”

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

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Bingo: Monster (The Sacklers themselves, in case that’s not obvious) I read Say Nothing a few months ago, and it was excellent–so good that Empire of Pain immediately shot to the top of my TBR list. Empire of Pain is the story of the Sackler family–the family behind Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical company responsible for Oxycontin. I’ve read books before about the opioid epidemic and the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma have been mentioned–but this deep dive into the family was FASCINATING. Empire of Pain is divided into three parts: the first […]

Everybody’s got their limits, nobody’s found mine

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Mayhem in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

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I don’t think I have anything to say about this book that hasn’t already been said before a hundred times, but I still have to review it, because it was fantastic. Say Nothing is the story of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, focusing on the period from the 70s up until the present day. It’s centered around the disappearance of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of ten who was abducted by the IRA in 1972. It also covers several key players who were involved in […]

“Outrage is conditioned not by the nature of the atrocity but by the affiliation of the victim and the perpetrator”

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

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After having read two of his books in (relatively) quick succession I can say with full confidence that Patrick Radden Keefe is an excellent writer and a dogged journalist. He was starting with topics that I wanted to read about, even if they were difficult, but he was able to draw me in in ways I wasn’t expecting and achieved more than I had anticipated. Say Nothing Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland takes on the bitter conflict in […]

Philanthropy is not the same as charity, or, how the Sacklers gaslighted a nation

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

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Living in the UK, there are certain things about the USA which are very alien to me – non-socialized medicine,  for example. I was also unaware of the opioid crisis in the States which has led to thousands of deaths from overdoses and the misery of addiction. Much of this can be laid firmly at the door of Purdue Pharmaceutical, inventor and manufacturer of a proprietary version of oxycodone (an opioid narcotic used for pain relief, which is more powerful than morphine), OxyContin. Other drug […]



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