Empire of Pain by the acclaimed writer, Patrick Radden Keefe was the winner of the Baille Gifford Prize 2021. Here Radden Keefe tells the saga of three generations of the Sackler family, their wealth, and their role in America's opioid crisis. Kyle Soller reads.

The Sackler family numbered among the richest in the United States, and are famed for their philanthropy. Their names adorn the walls of many of the globe's most prestigious institutions, from Harvard; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre, and the British Museum to name just a few. Less well known is that much of their wealth came from the powerful painkiller, OxyContin. While the drug wasn’t the only opioid behind this public health emergency, it is regarded as the pioneer. What follows is the story of an immigrant family struggling to survive during the depression in the 1930s, and who, as the century progressed turned their lives around when they made their way into the pharmaceutical business. In particular, it was Arthur Sackler's role in the marketing of the blockbuster drug, Valium that was the foundation of the first Sackler fortune. Later, the lessons learned in making Valium a success story were applied to OxyContin in the 1990s, leading to phenomenal wealth for the Sacklers. Meanwhile, on the eve of the new millenium, families across America were beginning to fall victim to what would become the opioid epidemic.

Patrick Radden Keefe is an award-winning writer at the New Yorker. He is the winner of the 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing.

Kyle Soller is an American film, stage, and television actor. His accolades include an Olivier Award, and three Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

Abridger: Katrin Williams.
Producer: Elizabeth Allard. Show less