Dopesick

"With the greatest compassion, Beth Macy plunges us into a world that deserves our knowing, filled with grieving mothers, cut-throat pharmaceutical executives, determined first-responders, and indifferent lawmakers. Radiating out from Appalachia, where the collision of poverty and pain created the ghoulish market for OxyContin, to the quiet addiction of suburbs and farming communities, you will recognize this world and weep for it. And then you will want to change it, because there can be no other response. Dopesick is both a tribute to those who lost and a fierce rebuke to those who took, and the new guidebook for understanding this quintessentially American crisis."--Elizabeth Catte, author of What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia "Everyone should read Beth Macy's story of the American opioid epidemic, of suffering, of heroism and stupidity, and of the corporate greed and regulatory failure that lies behind it. With compassion and humanity, Macy takes us into the lives of the victims, their families, law enforcement, and even some of the criminals. A great book!"--Professor Anne C Case, Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Emeritus at Princeton University and Sir Angus Deaton, FBA HonFRSE and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics "I'm still in withdrawal from Dopesick, a harrowing journey through the history and contemporary hell-scape of drug addiction. Beth Macy brings a big heart, a sharp eye, and a powerful sense of place to the story of ordinary Americans in the grip of an extraordinary crisis."--Tony Horwitz, Pulitzer Prize winning author of the National bestseller Confederates in the Attic "All prior books on this topic, including my own, were written as if describing the trunk, the ear, or the tail, without quite capturing the whole elephant. Journalist Beth Macy has packed the entire elephant and then some into one book. Her writing jumps from the page with a fast-paced narrative, colorful and inspiring characters, vivid historical detail, and a profound sense of place."--Anna Lembke, author of Drug Dealer, M.D., psychiatrist and professor of addiction medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine "Dopesick will make you shudder with rage and weep with sympathy. Beth Macy's empathy and fearless reporting reaches beyond the headlines to tell the stories of how real people have been left to cope with the fallout of corporate greed, and the willful blindnesses of businesses and the government. Macy again shows why she's one of America's best non-fiction writers"--Brian Alexander, author of Glass House "Beth Macy writes about our opioid epidemic but Dopesick is not about the drugs. It's a book about kids and moms and neighbors and the people who try to save them. It's about shame and stigma and desperation. It's about bad policy, greed and corruption. It's a Greek tragedy with a chorus of teenage ghosts who know how to text but can't express how they feel."--Senator Tim Kaine "A well-crafted and epic tale.... Artfully told."--Anna Lembke, author of Drug Dealer, M.D., psychiatrist and professor of addiction medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, Marc Levinson, The Wall Street Journal "The author's brightly written, richly detailed narrative not only illuminates globalization and the issue of offshoring, but succeeds brilliantly in conveying the human costs borne by low-income people displaced from a way of life.... A masterly feat of reporting."--Kirkus (starred review) "A truly remarkable work of researched narrative nonfiction, one the probes every corner of its topic and values every subject who has something to say.... Factory Man does justice to every hidden corner of the story. It's a book that leaves you feeling better for having read it."--Lucas Mann, San Francisco Chronicle "Nonfiction storytelling at its finest.... It does what the best business books should: It delivers a heavily researched, highly entertaining story, at the end of which you realize you've learned something.... This is a great American story, the kind that we don't read often enough."--Bryan Burrough, New York Times Praise for Factory Man A New York Times Notable Book of 2014

One of Janet Maslin's Top 10 Books of 2014 in the New York Times

One of The Christian Science Monitor's Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2014

One of Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2014: Nonfiction

"In a class with other runaway debuts like Laura Hillenbrand's "Seabiscuit" and Katherine Boo's "Behind the Beautiful Forevers": These nonfiction narratives are more stirring and dramatic than most novels. And Ms. Macy writes so vigorously that she hooks you instantly. You won't be putting this book down."--Janet Maslin, New York Times "A testament to the strength and determination of those whose lives were shaped by segregationist laws and the resulting deep poverty."--Bob Kustra, The Idaho Statesman "One of my favorite nonfiction books of the season...fascinating."--Joan Grenier, WAMC's "The Roundtable" "One of my favorite works of nonfiction of 2016...Macy nails it."--Vick Mickunas, WYSO "Book Nook" "An intimate, strange and compelling story with big characters and legal intrigue... Macy shares infinite details in smooth, brilliant storytelling."--Jennie Lay, Steamboat Today "An inarguable page-turner, Truevine is a fascinating and shocking account of Jim Crow's legacy and America's strange (and often brutal) past."--Dianca London, Lenny Letter "Intriguing, enlightening and multi-layered... In so diligently and thoughtfully researching and writing this book, Macy has paid tribute to George, Willie and Harriet, and ensured their life stories have finally been accurately and fairly told."--Sharon Chisvin, Winnipeg Free Press "Macy's digging, and how she chronicles her effort to find the truth... make 'Truevine' a true mystery that provides insight into a long-gone world that still has echoes today."--Dale Singer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch "While it was clearly no picnic, Macy portrays life in a circus sideshow as a community experience that could provide emotional support, protection - and a living - to those who might otherwise have been ostracized or locked away."--Susan Linnee, StarTribune "A vivid and moving history that uncovers much more than exploitation and racism."--Randy Dotinga, Christian Science Monitor "Truevine is a moving attempt to reconstruct this David and Goliath story...If even "Eko and Iko" can be given back their stories, there might be hope for us all."--Julian Lucas, The New Republic "[Macy] spent more than a decade following these trails in search of facts.... what finally emerged is not only riveting, but multi-layered."--Darrell Laurant, News & Advance An "impeccably reported tale"--Tina Jordan & Isabella Biedenharn, Entertainment Weekly "Deep in circus history, beneath racist lies and family secrets, [Macy] found a gripping tale of the cravenness of human nature--and the power of family."--People "An entertaining, provocative, often moving search for the truth about the brothers...Like "Factory Man," "Truevine" is rigorously researched and skillfully written...she provides rich detail about their lives...With empathetic storytelling, Macy raises questions about the brothers and their world, questions that persist. As we inch toward a forthright discussion of race in America brought on by police violence, Black Lives Matter, immigration and a mixed-race president, "Truevine" elicits self-examination."--Rob Walker, Richmond Times-Dispatch "A deeply moving and endlessly compelling book."--Alice Cary, BookPage "Truevine...not only puts the real faces and lives of George and Willie to the legend, but also speaks to the ongoing struggle for racial justice in the United States."--Allison McNearney, Time "'Truevine' is dominated by delight and triumph. Macy is a fine Blue Ridge wit...She paints vivid portraits of wily, creative minds...In a timely way, "Truevine" explodes the presumption that moderns are less gullible than in an earlier era."--Jeff Calder, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "A fascinating history.... Macy puts their story into its larger historical context, giving the reader an understanding of the virulent, often violent racism of the Jim Crow era, which affected the Muse family deeply."--Colette Bancroft, Tampa Bay Times "You may find yourself wanting the tale of the Muse brothers to emerge as a simple tale of inhumanity and injustice. There's a certain satisfaction in that. But the story is too thorny and complicated for that approach, and Macy, whose last book was the New York Times bestseller 'Factory Man, ' does us the favor of respecting that complexity."--Chris Vognar, The Dallas Morning News "Laying out her decades of journalistic persistence, [Macy covers] the uncomfortable aftermath that followed the boys' heroic rescue by their mother."--Boris Kachka, Vulture "Macy earns a seat at the table of today's most accomplished nonfiction storytellers... The tale of Willie and George Muse makes for a spellbinding read."--Jeff Debell, Roanoke Times "Deeply reported and told with the kind of nuance and grace that define Macy's storytelling. I have been a fan for a long time...It's also just a remarkable story...Of a proud legacy, one that should be told, and thankfully, by a gifted writer."--Maria Carillo, The Houston Chronicle "Truevine serves as a primer about racial inequality that all Americans should read."--Marilyn Smith of Kepler's, Literary Hub "Macy's conscientious reporting (affirming the story's accuracy) and her vigorous storytelling make the saga of George and Willie Muse even more enthralling than fiction...Macy is as tender and solicitous in telling their stories as she is in recovering, in print, the dignity of a family broken apart by avarice and injustice."--Gene Seymour, USA Today "Expert...[Macy] has done [Willie Muse's] life justice in a riveting story that zigzags in unexpected directions...her enthusiasm never lags...even in the worst circumstances, Ms. Macy makes clear, the Muse brothers maintained their humanity."--Jeff Baker, The Wall Street Journal "Extraordinary... 'Truevine' is at once poignant and rigorous, a compassionate dual biography and a forthright examination of codified racism. Macy is a resourceful reporter and a strong but never showy writer... This book, her second after 'Factory Man, ' is the work of a journalist whose persistence, empathy and commitment to accuracy can't be doubted.... 'Truevine may focus on events that began a century ago, but its guiding spirit couldn't be more urgent."--Kevin Canfield, The San Francisco Chronicle "Expert...[Macy's] reportorial methods are inspiringly persistent (and [her] books certainly bear that out)...you can feel Ms. Macy's admiration wafting off the page."--Janet Maslin, New York Times "Love and kinship impelled Harriet's family to try for a century to protect George and Willie...from a world that saw them as objects for exploitation. Macy, for her part, works hard to illuminate the brothers' story...Macy is a gifted storyteller and a dogged researcher, and readers will be riveted by her account of Harriet Muse's struggle to find her sons."--Edward E. Baptist, New York Times Book Review "If over a hundred years ago there had been Black Lives Matter, the mother of George and Willie Muse would have joined and marched for the safe return of her sons. Back then, almost a century ago, she could only keep learning and finding folk who agreed she had a right to her family...a right to the love and protection of her sons. Beth Macy in Truevine has given us a stirring story of the persistence of faith...the strength of love...in this tale of a mother's journey to reclaim not only her sons but her right to them."--Nikki Giovanni, poet and one of Oprah Winfrey's "Twenty-five Living Legends" "Beth Macy has a way of getting under the skin of American life, burrowing into the seemingly ordinary to find the weird and wonderful taproots of our society. This true tale from rural Virginia will enrage you, inspire you, make you shake your head and rear your fist. And as the pages keep turning, you'll feel yourself slipping into a gothic world of freaks and geeks, and surreal racial thinking, that seems both deeply strange and yet, sadly, all too familiar."--Hampton Sides, author of In the Kingdom of Ice, Blood and Thunder, and Americana "Macy's exploration of the long-hidden fate of two young African Americans and how that fate illuminates the atrocities of the Jim Crow South is as compelling as Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks...both are absolutely stunning examples of narrative nonfiction at its best...Certain to be among the most memorable books of the year."--Connie Fletcher, Booklist (starred review) "A consummate chronicler of the American South spotlights the extraordinary history of two kidnapped African-American brothers enslaved as a circus sideshow act... Macy vividly illustrates circus life during the 1920s, and she movingly depicts how the brothers' protective, determined mother, Harriett, eventually discovered and rescued them almost a decade and a half later... A sturdy, passionate, and penetrating narrative. This first-rate journey into human trafficking, slavery, and familial bonding is an engrossing example of spirited, determined reportage."--Kirkus (starred) "Taking us into the dark corners of American history that are discussed only in whispers, Beth Macy shines a bright light on the racial profiteering of circus freak shows and the Jim Crow South. In the remarkable Truevine, Macy manages to do what all the exploitative showmen wouldn't dare; she humanizes the Muse brothers, and in doing so, she has written an unforgettable story of both heartbreak and enduring love."--Gilbert King, author of Devil in the Grove "This compelling account of one family's tragic exploitation provides an important lens through which America's tortured racial history and the cruel legacy of Jim Crow can be seen anew."--Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy and founder and director of the Equal Justice Initiative A New York Times Notable Book of 2016 One of Janet Maslin's Top 10 Books of 2016 in the New York Times

One of The San Francisco Chronicle's Top Ten Books of 2016

One of the Best Books of 2016 - Amazon, Kirkus, The Tampa Bay Times, The Houston Chronicle, BookPage, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A Kirkus Prize Finalist

Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

"'It's the best story in town, ' a colleague told Beth Macy decades ago, 'but no one has been able to get it.' She now has, with tenacity and sensitivity. She gives a singular sideshow its due, offering these 'Ambassadors from Mars' a remarkable, deeply affecting afterlife."--Stacy Schiff, author of The Witches Praise for Truevine "Beth Macy is not satisfied with myths or side-bars. She seeks the very hearts of the people who are running the long marathons of struggle and survival - of Life. Dopesick is another deep - and deeply needed - look into the troubled soul of America."--Tom Hanks