Description

Winner of the NBCC Award for General Nonfiction

Named on Amazons Best Books of the Year 2015Michael Botticelli, U.S. Drug Czar (Politico) Favorite Book of the YearAngus Deaton, Nobel Prize Economics (Bloomberg/WSJ) Best Books of 2015Matt Bevin, Governor of Kentucky (WSJ) Books of the 10 Best Books of 2015Entertainment Weeklys 10 Best Books of 2015 Buzzfeeds 19 Best Nonfiction Books of 2015The Daily Beasts Best Big Idea Books of 2015Seattle Times Best Books of 2015Boston Globes Best Books of 2015St. Louis Post-Dispatchs Best Books of 2015The Guardians The Best Book We Read All YearAudibles Best Books of 2015Texas Observers Five Books We Loved in 2015Chicago Public Librarys Best Nonfiction Books of 2015

From a small town in Mexico to the boardrooms of Big Pharma to main streets nationwide, an explosive and shocking account of addiction in the heartland of America.

In 1929, in the blue-collar city of Portsmouth, Ohio, a company built a swimming pool the size of a football field; named Dreamland, it became the vital center of the community. Now, addiction has devastated Portsmouth, as it has hundreds of small rural towns and suburbs across Americaaddiction like no other the country has ever faced. How that happened is the riveting story of Dreamland.

With a great reporters narrative skill and the storytelling ability of a novelist, acclaimed journalist Sam Quinones weaves together two classic tales of capitalism run amok whose unintentional collision has been catastrophic. The unfettered prescribing of pain medications during the 1990s reached its peak in Purdue Pharmas campaign to market OxyContin, its new, expensiveextremely addictivemiracle painkiller. Meanwhile, a massive influx of black tar heroincheap, potent, and originating from one small county on Mexicos west coast, independent of any drug cartelassaulted small town and mid-sized cities across the country, driven by a brilliant, almost unbeatable marketing and distribution system. Together these phenomena continue to lay waste to communities from Tennessee to Oregon, Indiana to New Mexico.

Introducing a memorable cast of characterspharma pioneers, young Mexican entrepreneurs, narcotics investigators, survivors, and parentsQuinones shows how these tales fit together. Dreamland is a revelatory account of the corrosive threat facing America and its heartland.

Author: Sam Quinones
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 04/05/2016
Pages: 400
Weight: 0.9lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.50w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781620402528
Language: English