A "deeply reported, deeply moving" (Patrick Radden Keefe) account of everyday heroes fighting on the front lines of the overdose crisis, from the New York Times bestselling author of Dopesick (inspiration for the Peabody Award-winning Hulu limited series) and Factory Man. Nearly a decade into the second wave of America's overdose crisis, pharmaceutical companies have yet to answer for the harms they created. As pending court battles against opioid makers, distributors, and retailers drag on, addiction rates have soared to record-breaking levels during the COVID pandemic, illustrating the critical need for leadership, urgency, and change. Meanwhile, there is scant consensus between law enforcement and medical leaders, nor an understanding of how to truly scale the programs that are out there, working at the ragged edge of capacity and actually saving lives. Distilling this massive, unprecedented national health crisis down to its character-driven emotional core as only she can, Beth Macy takes us into the country's hardest hit places to witness the devastating personal costs that one-third of America's families are now being forced to shoulder. Here we meet the ordinary people fighting for the least of us with the fewest resources, from harm reductionists risking arrest to bring lifesaving care to the homeless and addicted to the activists and bereaved families pushing to hold Purdue and the Sackler family accountable. These heroes come from all walks of life; what they have in common is an up-close and personal understanding of addiction that refuses to stigmatize-and therefore abandon-people who use drugs, as big pharma execs and many politicians are all too ready to do. Like the treatment innovators she profiles, Beth Macy meets the opioid crisis where it is-not where we think it should be or wish it was. Bearing witness with clear eyes, intrepid curiosity, and unfailing empathy, she brings us the crucial next installment in the story of the defining disaster of our era, one that touches every single one of us, whether directly or indirectly. A complex story of public health, big pharma, dark money, politics, race, and class that is by turns harrowing and heartening, infuriating and inspiring, Raising Lazarus is a must-read for all Americans.
Autorentext
Beth Macy is the author of the widely acclaimed and bestselling books Dopesick, Truevine, and Factory Man. Based in Roanoke, Virginia, for three decades, she has won more than a dozen national awards for her reporting, including a Nieman Fellowship for Journalism at Harvard. She is a winner of the 2021 George Mason Award. Beth is the creator of the Audible Original documentary Dopesick: Finding Tess.Dopesick is being adapted into an original drama by Hulu and will star Michael Keaton.
Klappentext
Author of Dopesick, the New York Times bestselling book that inspired the Hulu limited series
New York Times Bestselling author of Dopesick and Factory Man
In her characteristic narrative style, Beth Macy pulls the massive national health crisis that is opioid addiction down to its compelling, character-driven, emotional core to illustrate the personal cost American families have been forced to shoulder. This is the necessary follow up to DOPESICK, deeply reported and full of breaking news, that makes clear that entire swathes of America-especially rural America-have been left to fend for themselves.
Nearly a decade into the second wave of America's opioid epidemic, pharmaceutical companies are finally being forced to answer for the crisis they created. As bestsellers such as EMPIRE OF PAIN have brought to life, the pending multi-district litigation against opioid makers, distributors, and retailers could result in tens of millions of dollars to help treat the disease of addiction and provide communities across America with resources to help those struggling with addiction. And yet there is no consensus on the best treatment available to help addicted people, nor an understanding of how to scale the programs that have proven successful.
Macy examines-as she did with FACTORY MAN-what happens when political forces beyond the control of individuals come to define generations of Americans. This complex story of public health, big pharma, dark money, politics, race, and class will take the story of DOPESICK into the present day, showing that the increase in the number of overdose deaths during the COVID pandemic illustrates the tremendous need across America to change the conditions that make addiction so prevalent and which prevent those seeking treatment to begin new lives.