American Epidemic: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Opioid Crisis

by John McMillian (Editor)

Overview

A first-of-its kind collection of the most vivid reporting about the most lethal addiction crisis ever

Just a few years ago, the opioid crisis could be referred to as a "silent epidemic," but it is no longer possible to argue that the scourge of opiate addiction being overlooked. This is in large part thanks to the extraordinary writings featured in this volume, which includes some of the most impactful reporting in the United States in recent years addressing the opiate addiction crisis. American Epidemic collects, for the first time, the key works of reportage and analysis that provide the best picture available of the origins, consequences, and human calamity associated with the epidemic.

Spirited, informed, and eloquently written, American Epidemic will serve as an essential introduction for anyone seeking insight into the deadliest drug crisis in American history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620975206
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	10/22/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

John McMillian is an associate professor of American history at Georgia State University. He is the author of Beatles vs. Stones and Smoking Typewriters, editor of American Epidemic (The New Press), and a co-editor of The Radical Reader and Protest Nation (both published by The New Press). He lives in Atlanta.

John McMillian is an associate professor of American history at Georgia State University. He is the author of Beatles vs. Stones and Smoking Typewriters, the editor of American Epidemic: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Opioid Crisis (The New Press), and a co-editor of The Radical Reader and Protest Nation (both published by The New Press). He lives in Atlanta.

Editorial Reviews

08/26/2019

History professor McMillian (Beatles vs. Stones) gathers some of the most striking reporting on the opioid crisis in this wrenching collection. The first two-thirds of this collection gathers reportage (for example, a look at heroin’s journey from one small town in Mexico to the United States), op-eds (such as a lyrical look at humanity’s history with opium and its derivatives), and personal essays (including a father’s rendition of his son’s addiction) published between 2012 and 2018 in local and national publications—from the Roanoke Times to the New York Times and the literary magazine n+1. The second, much smaller section deals more explicitly with the causes of the epidemic and debates how much of addiction is caused by the chemical hook in opium-based drugs vs. social factors such as loneliness, isolation, and childhood trauma. McMillian calls this collection idiosyncratic, and it is; it provides neither linear history nor concrete solutions. But each piece is well-written, and together they bring light to a quiet but deadly scourge, create plenty of sympathy for its victims, and inspire readers to consider what society can do. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for American Epidemic:
"A kaleidoscopic introduction to the devastation wrought by—and possible remedies for—the opioid crisis."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Each piece is well-written, and together they bring light to a quiet but deadly scourge, create plenty of sympathy for its victims, and inspire readers to consider what society can do."
—Publishers Weekly

"These pieces are brave, clear-eyed, heartbreaking and pragmatic—but above all, they're impossible to put down."
—Seth Mnookin, professor of science writing, MIT, and author of The Panic Virus and the New York Times bestselling Feeding the Monster

"John McMillian has masterfully assembled a crucial window into the origins, expansion, and deepening devastation of the latest drug abuse nightmare to menace our society. American Epidemic also demonstrates the ugly racial and economic disparities that cynically distort our reactions to drug abuse."
—Douglas A. Blackmon, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black People in America from the Civil War to World War II

From the Publisher

2019-08-18
Diverse perspectives on an American tragedy.

"No Family Is Safe From This Epidemic," the title of a U.S. Navy admiral's essay on his son's fatal overdose, suggests the tone of this eclectic collection of nonfiction about the opioid epidemic. The book focuses on the aftermath of the disaster set in motion in 1996 when Purdue Pharma released the painkiller OxyContin and misled doctors, patients, and regulators about its addictive potential, ultimately driving users to cheaper street heroin. But rather than rehash the sins of drug companies, McMillian (American History/Georgia State Univ.; Beatles vs. Stones, 2014, etc.) gathers essays, reporting, and book excerpts that show the effects of the crisis on users, families, doctors, and law enforcement. Tom Mashberg and Rebecca Davis O'Brien expose a heroin mill on a quiet cul-de-sac in suburban New Jersey, and Margaret Talbot chronicles her meeting with a paramedic who saw a heartbreaking scene at a West Virginia home: a 7-year-old and a 5-year-old following a 911 operator's instructions for performing CPR on their overdosed parents. In some of the most provocative pieces, contributors or their sources disagree on the value of options like 12-step programs or the synthetic opioids methadone or Suboxone or give surprising answers to thorny moral questions. A skeptical Sarah Resnick visited Vancouver's controversial Insite, the first legal supervised drug-injection site in North America and left convinced that such initiatives save lives. Other contributors include Christopher Caldwell, Julia Lurie, Beth Macy, Gabor Maté, Sam Quinones, Andrew Sullivan, Johan Hari, and Leslie Jamison, who provides a foreword. If Sullivan's views are more conservative than most in the book, they are hardly more optimistic: "If Marx posited that religion is the opiate of the people, then we have reached a new, more clarifying moment in the history of the West: Opiates are now the religion of the people."

A kaleidoscopic introduction to the devastation wrought by—and possible remedies for—the opioid crisis.

Kirkus Reviews