RaveThe Washington PostRamsey’s debut work of nonfiction is a master class in disrupting a stubborn narrative ... In vivid and often infuriating detail, When Crack Was King reveals that the pain of drug addiction is both highly particular and universal.
Patrick Radden Keefe
RaveThe New Republic... the fullest picture of Sackler family dynamics so far, including what the family knew about OxyContin’s dark side and when ... Moving alongside the history of how the Sacklers accumulated their wealth is Keefe’s lucid, unrelenting portrayal of how the Sacklers, especially Richard, were fully aware of alarming reports of overdose deaths related to their product but continued to press and press for more sales ... Keefe’s book is ultimately an important record of private greed facilitated by a corrupted government. The book’s conclusion is somewhat open-ended ... one thing that’s certain after reading Keefe’s book is that between an ever-growing death toll from overdose deaths and a generation of pain patients left to fend for themselves, much more than lawsuits and money is needed to get America out of this painful nightmare.
