A review by sydapel
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

dark informative slow-paced

4.5

Easily my favorite of Radden Keefe's books so far, and an incredibly thoughtful and in depth story about the now infamous Sackler family. there's so much in here about how this family has been taking advantage of the system since Day 1, how their philanthropy has always been an offshoot of their need to elevate their name and their refusal to halt the train of profit lead to a chilling downfall. I wish the book had going into a bit more detail about how capitalist systems allow and even actively encourage this type of greed, but the author does admit he was more focused on the members of this elusive family. Highly recommend! 
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