--- description: Find out why "Empire of Pain" by Patrick Radden Keefe is on TIME's list of the must-read books from this year. title: 'Empire of Pain' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2021 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf80a50f1a988cbe7/6998cd3be1ba008edc98e4bd/time-hi-res.webp?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 29, 2021 # Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Award-winning _New Yorker_ writer Patrick Radden Keefe has gained acclaim for his fearless investigations into hidden histories, violent clashes and dark systems of power, delivered in captivating narrative prose. In his latest, Keefe dives into the opioid epidemic through an examination of the Sackler family, whose company, Purdue Pharma, developed and patented Oxycontin and who built their empire on its mass distribution—despite the drug’s devastating effects. It’s a fascinating and infuriating firecracker of a story about greed, privilege, hypocrisy and the corruption of the American dream. **Buy Now:** _Empire of Pain_on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780385545686 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/2YTmCux "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120658/empire-of-pain/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120658/empire-of-pain/"},"headline":"Empire of Pain","datePublished":"2021-11-29T13:15:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:58:26.581Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120658/empire-of-pain/","keywords":["Books","list","best books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf80a50f1a988cbe7/6998cd3be1ba008edc98e4bd/time-hi-res.webp?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf80a50f1a988cbe7/6998cd3be1ba008edc98e4bd/time-hi-res.webp?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120658/empire-of-pain/","name":"Empire of Pain"}}]}] ```