This book is one of the most important books on Appalachia published so far this century. It is virtually unprecedented in its powerful expose of one of the greatest tragedies in American history masterminded by millionaires who had our politicians paid off directly or indirectly. No wonder the New York Times named it a best book of the year and the Washington Post called it “a product of one reporter’s sustained outrage: a searing spotlight on the scope and human cost of corruption and negligence.” The Preface to this book by the author begins, “In two years, out-of-state drug companies shipped nearly 9 million opioid pills to Kermit, West Virginia, a town of 382 people.” Then he proceeds to explain how rich the legal drug dealers got from the top of the chain of command to its bottom and how many died, and how many are still suffering, and how complicit all of us who did not squeal were. “With searing storytelling and deep investigative reporting, Eric Eyre has written an indispensable book that you won’t be able to put down.” Anna Sale. The author, Eric Eyre, won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting for the Charleston, West Virginia, Gazette, and then used the knowledge he gained reporting the crisis to craft this book.
New York: Scribner/Simon & Schuster, a 2021 paperback edition of a 2020 hardback release. 288 pages with an Index and notes. Trade paperback.