Empire of Pain

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An instant New York Times bestseller and winner of prestigious awards, this book presents a devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, whose wealth was founded on Valium and later tarnished by OxyContin. The Sackler name is linked to renowned institutions like Harvard and the Louvre, yet the origins of their fortune remained obscure until it was revealed that they were behind the marketing of a painkiller that fueled the opioid crisis. This narrative spans from early twentieth-century Brooklyn to the opulent settings of Greenwich and Cap d’Antibes, exploring the family's rise from Valium to the more potent OxyContin. The book details their aggressive strategies to co-opt doctors, influence the FDA, and minimize the drug's addictive nature. It also examines the investigations into the Sacklers and their company, highlighting the family's scorched-earth legal tactics to avoid accountability. A masterful work of narrative reporting, this compelling study delves into the impunity of the super-elite and scrutinizes the greed that created one of the world’s great fortunes.