Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
by Patrick Radden Keefe
View on GoodreadsPatrick Radden Keefe's investigative history of the Sackler family — from Arthur Sackler's mid-20th-century pharmaceutical marketing innovations through Purdue Pharma's manufacture and marketing of OxyContin to the family's bankruptcy and settlement maneuvers.
Core ideas
- The book's three-generation arc — Arthur, then his brothers Mortimer and Raymond, then their children — shows the Sacklers as a family enterprise across decades, not as the actions of any one bad actor.
- The OxyContin story is reconstructed in detail: the company knew about the addiction profile far earlier than public disclosure, the misleading "less than 1%" claim was a deliberate marketing construction, and senior family members signed off on the strategy.
- The post-crisis behavior — bankruptcy structuring, museum-naming protection, settlement releases — is treated as continuous with the original behavior, not as evolution; the structural goal throughout has been preservation of family wealth and reputation.
Published2021
Pages535
ISBN9780385545686
ReadJun 2024
