American Overdose
The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts
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Narrated by:
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Dan Woren
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By:
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Chris McGreal
About this listen
A comprehensive portrait of a uniquely American epidemic - devastating in its findings and damning in its conclusions
The opioid epidemic has been described as "one of the greatest mistakes of modern medicine." But calling it a mistake is a generous rewriting of the history of greed, corruption, and indifference that pushed the US into consuming more than 80 percent of the world's opioid painkillers.
Journeying through lives and communities wrecked by the epidemic, Chris McGreal reveals not only how Big Pharma hooked Americans on powerfully addictive drugs but the corrupting of medicine and public institutions that let the opioid makers get away with it.
The starting point for McGreal's deeply reported investigation is the miners promised that opioid painkillers would restore their wrecked bodies, but who became targets of "drug dealers in white coats".
A few heroic physicians warned of impending disaster. But American Overdose exposes the powerful forces they were up against, including the pharmaceutical industry's co-opting of the Food and Drug Administration and Congress in the drive to push painkillers - resulting in the resurgence of heroin cartels in the American heartland. McGreal tells the story, in terms both broad and intimate, of people hit by a catastrophe they never saw coming. Years in the making, its ruinous consequences will stretch years into the future.
©2018 Chris McGreal (P)2018 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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"A deftly researched account of America's opioid epidemic. McGreal's book is authoritative in tone and vernacular in style.... [A] powerful narrative." (Kirkus Reviews)
"[A] powerful encapsulation of that epidemic....a timely examination of hard-won lessons." (Nature)
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- Length: 24 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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A riveting, powerful telling of the story of the grassroots movement of activists, many of them in a life-or-death struggle, who seized upon scientific research to help develop the drugs that turned HIV from a mostly fatal infection to a manageable disease. Ignored by public officials, religious leaders, and the nation at large, and confronted with shame and hatred, this small group of men and women chose to fight for their right to live by educating themselves and demanding to become full partners in the race for effective treatments.
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Read This Book!
- By Kay M Hawklee on 05-30-17
By: David France
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Where Does It Hurt?
- An Entrepreneur's Guide to Fixing Health Care
- By: Jonathan Bush, Stephen Baker
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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A bold new remedy for the sprawling and wasteful health care industry. In this provocative book, Jonathan Bush, cofounder and CEO of athenahealth, calls for a revolution in health care to give customers more choices, freedom, power, and information, and at far lower prices.
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No critical thinking
- By Steve from MD on 07-31-14
By: Jonathan Bush, and others
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The Birth of the Pill
- How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution
- By: Jonathan Eig
- Narrated by: Gayle Hendrix
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
We know it simply as "the pill", yet its genesis was anything but simple. Jonathan Eig's masterful narrative revolves around four principal characters: the fiery feminist Margaret Sanger, who was a champion of birth control in her campaign for the rights of women but neglected her own children in pursuit of free love; the beautiful Katharine McCormick, who owed her fortune to her wealthy husband, the son of the founder of International Harvester and a schizophrenic.
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Overall Excellent Read
- By Rachel on 04-02-22
By: Jonathan Eig
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The Chain
- Farm, Factory, and the Fate of Our Food
- By: Ted Genoways
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Interviewing scores of line workers, union leaders, hog farmers, and local politicians and activists, Genoways reveals an industry pushed to its breaking point. Along the way, he exposes alarming new trends: sick or permanently disabled workers, abused animals, water and soil pollution, and mounting conflict between small towns and immigrant labor.
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Great Writing, Performance and Content
- By Kevin S. Grail on 09-29-19
By: Ted Genoways
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The Up Side of Down
- Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success
- By: Megan McArdle
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Most new products fail. So do most small businesses. And most of us, if we are honest, have experienced a major setback in our personal or professional lives. So what determines who will bounce back and follow up with a home run? If you want to succeed in business and in life, Megan McArdle argues in this hugely thought-provoking book, you have to learn how to harness the power of failure. McArdle has been one of our most popular business bloggers for more than a decade, covering the rise and fall of some the world' s top companies and challenging us to think differently about how we live, learn, and work.
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Good Book
- By Ray on 05-21-14
By: Megan McArdle
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The Good Death
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Overall
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Following the death of her father, journalist and hospice volunteer Ann Neumann sets out to examine what it means to die well in the United States. When Ann Neumann's father was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, she left her job and moved back to her hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She became his full-time caregiver - cooking, cleaning, and administering medications. When her father died, she was undone by the experience, by grief and the visceral quality of dying.
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Ugh, so boring
- By Maranto on 05-13-19
By: Ann Neumann
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Bad City
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On a cool, overcast afternoon in April 2016, a salacious tip arrived at the L.A. Times that reporter Paul Pringle thought should have taken, at most, a few weeks to check out: a drug overdose at a fancy hotel involving one of the University of Southern California’s shiniest stars—Dr. Carmen Puliafito, the head of the prestigious medical school. Pringle, who’d long done battle with USC and its almost impenetrable culture of silence, knew reporting the story wouldn’t be a walk in the park. USC is the largest private employer in the city of L.A., and it casts a long shadow.
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Wow.
- By Anna on 07-22-22
By: Paul Pringle
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Reefer Madness
- Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market
- By: Eric Schlosser
- Narrated by: Eric Schlosser
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Overall
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Performance
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In Reefer Madness, the best-selling author of Fast Food Nation investigates America's black market and its far-reaching influence on our society through three of its mainstays - pot, porn, and illegal immigrants.
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Great Investigative Journalism
- By Boulderite on 06-25-03
By: Eric Schlosser
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Willful Blindness
- Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril
- By: Margaret Heffernan
- Narrated by: Margaret Heffernan
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Margaret Heffernan argues that the biggest threats and dangers we face are the ones we don't see - not because they're secret or invisible, but because we're willfully blind. A distinguished businesswoman and writer, she examines the phenomenon and traces its imprint in our private and working lives, and within governments and organizations, and asks: What makes us prefer ignorance? What are we so afraid of? Why do some people see more than others? And how can we change?
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How Not to Be the Blind Leading the Blind
- By Cynthia on 06-29-13
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Deadly Spin
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- By: Wendell Potter
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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In June 2009, Wendell Potter made national headlines with his scorching testimony before the Senate panel on health care reform. This former senior vice president of CIGNA explained how health insurers make promises they have no intention of keeping, how they flout regulations designed to protect consumers, and how they skew political debate with multibillion-dollar public relations campaigns designed to spread disinformation.
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Must Read
- By Randy on 01-11-11
By: Wendell Potter
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What listeners say about American Overdose
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Edward Bisch
- 04-09-20
Most Comprehensive Book on Opiate Epidemic
Having read all the major books on the Opiate Epidemic which I have lived since losing my son in 2001 to OxyContin this book explains it all without being 5 volumes 👍👍
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7 people found this helpful
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- Clive Hazell
- 05-10-23
An old story in a compelling way
This story is an exceptional journey into America's love affair with pharmaceuticals and the tragedy it has led to. The statistics and stories are terrifying and tragic but it never gets bogged down in the minutiae. It is a human story matched by an outstanding narration. I could not stop listening.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jolynea Davis
- 10-24-21
EYE OPENING!!!
I had no idea just how bad it was until listening to this book. It makes me sad and ashamed that so people were sucked into the addiction by doctors and drug company PR.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jeri Seegmiller
- 07-04-23
Required read
A required read for all in a position of power, health care, law enforcement and first responders to understand how we got into this epidemic.
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- Amber Jacobs
- 12-06-21
Great book!
This book is so hard hitting and well written. Definitely going to have to listen to it again. The author does a phenomenal job at laying out America's opioid crisis.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-18-21
The same story
As someone who was aware long ago the story and people are the same. the issue is the same. However, the response is different. This is a story that shows how racism works, and this is the only time it (racism) worked for Black people.
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- Christopher N
- 03-15-24
Awesome and informative book!
This book is very informative and a great listen. Great narration. I will listen to it again in the future.
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- Macmom4
- 02-18-19
An important read
This book will make you angry, will make you scream at the greed , the laziness, the weakness, the indifference of all involved in the current opioid crisis. I am a physician- I went to many lectures and had drug reps tell me that patients in pain could not become addicted to prescription pain medicine. This flew in the face of my experience as an ER doctor. We are trained in medicine to not trust anecdotal evidence. What is the answer when the “scientific studies “ are misrepresented, poorly conducted or fraudulent.
This book is important for anyone dealing with the opioid crisis. It is well written and well researched. The reader has a wonderful voice. The book is easily understood by listeners without a scientific background
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15 people found this helpful