Well gosh dang, I'm so glad I have a newsletter because sit down y'all do I have a tale for you! And sorry in advance - this one is long!

As a member of the unofficial John Oliver Book Club (a thing that does not exist but if it did, I would be co-chair), I was bequeathed another wonderful book recommendation and now I have to share it with y'all. 

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty is a book that deals with the history of the Sackler Family. It hit me very early in the book how this family is truly everywhere - there's a wing at the Met named after them, just for starters. I knew about the OxyContin epidemic from the news, and more in depth from Last Week Tonight, but I guess I never thought about the family. As the author, Patrick Radden Keefe puts it, they would have wanted you to think that the family has been around for centuries. But wow! Wow they have not.

The story starts with the three brothers, Arthur, Raymond, and Mortimer Sackler, and how they all became doctors and lead their family through the Great Depression. Arthur was the leader of the three, being the oldest, and not only did he get a well paying job during the height of it, but as time passed, he ran a pharmaceutical company, an advertising company (for pharmaceuticals), and a newspaper (that dealt with pharmaceuticals). As he grew older, his range of power continued to grow because when you control the product, the advertising for the product, and the media for the product, it's easy to do so. But Arthur was intense and wanted things his way for both his personal and professional life.

When he was subpoenaed by Congress for essentially buying the head of the FDA's silence, Arthur bullied the court until his time was up; he also went after a woman while he was married and when questioned about it, was confused as to why it mattered. In his mind, what he wanted was all that was important, no matter who he hurt along the way.

The most important thing for this man who essentially grew from nothing was that his name was remembered. Not to reference Hamilton in the year of our lord 2022, but from the musical, a legacy is "planting seeds in a garden you never get to see," and Arthur was determined that the Sackler name would mean something in the future. He invested in the arts so much so he had wings at the Met, the Smithsonian, and many more, and his family had schools at Harvard, Yale, Tufts, NYU, and more with their names on it (sometimes, just his!).

And well, uh, not to summarize the majority of the book, but the family name certainly means something today -- just not in the way he would've wanted it.

I'm sure you've heard about Purdue and the many cases they're having about the OxyContin epidemic. I referenced the Last Week Tonight clip above, which is a good watch and came out a little after this book. But what I will say is that the book focused on just how manipulative, petty, and micromanag-y the entire family was/is/has been, from the era of the brothers when they literally had nothing but their name to when they were forced to testify in in front of people whose family died from OxyContin, just last year.

But there were a few things that stuck out to me from the book that weren't mentioned in the LWT piece so I'll bring them up here

• David Sackler's wife Joss tried to ignore the case as much as possible, as so much as she had a fashion show and invited celebrities to attend by paying them hundreds of thousands of dollars. One of the celebs she invited was Courtney Love. You know, the Courtney Love who was married to Kurt Cobain, both of who famously had problems with addiction? I was like "oh shit no they didn't" and Courtney thought the same and put the family on blast. 
• I was fascinated to see that despite how manipulative Arthur Sackler was, it wasn't his side of the family who was really in charge of Purdue, because of well, his brothers managed to cut him out.
• The fact that the three brothers initially started all of this because they worked at mental asylums and saw the treatments that were happening and were like "We can do better and help people." WELP. 
• And really so much more. Like, y'all this was an eighteen hour audiobook - I'm barely scratching the surface. 

I think what really blew my mind was just how quickly a family that attempted to do good in the world fell apart so fast. They had nothing but their good name after the Great Depression, and had the inspiration to do good things - whether for fame, money, or whatever. But if the first generation of the brothers' attempts to do good got morphed into wanting to be remembered for their deeds, the second generation took the wealth and sprinted with it, wanting to stay successful as possible, and the third generation was like "there was never a time we have not been rich."

To hear the ending where the author went through all the institutions that ripped the name Sackler from their buildings/grants/funding was cathartic, if only slightly. Patrick Radden Keefe also notes that the Sackler family still has a ton of money and due to legal manipulations, barely faced any scrutiny in terms of paying back the community, which is incredibly frustrating to hear. But their good name is ruined and there is the slight chance that legal issues may come up again.

Arthur Sackler cared so much about his family name that he worked his entire (and I do mean entire) life to make sure they would be know for generations. And within two, that name was ripped down from buildings and ostracized. The one thing he cared about, his legacy, has essentially been destroyed. 

Good.

Overall great book! Stressful as hell because this is real life, but if you like in-depth reporting, this is an incredible read/listen.

Anyway, onto some recommendations!

• I finally saw Everything Everywhere All At Once, and echoing everyone else - this movie is a masterpiece. Beautiful, funny, sad - just an incredible film going experience!! I'm linking the trailer, but honestly, you should just go in blind. Multiverses? Family drama?? Incredible.
   
• Every time I read this post about Mad Dad Hour, where the person ran a radio show where they purposely gave a band the wrong rock name (like "Yellow Submarine" by the Rolling Stones) before playing the songs, I laugh so much. Those poor mad dads calling in while the host is just giggling away. 
   
• For all my fellow writers out there, I believe you. It's hard. Also Kafka also believes in you and agrees that it sucks. 

Anyway, sorry for the long one! Lots of thoughts on the unofficial John Oliver Book Club pick! Anyway, hope you have a wonderful weekend.