--- title: When Crack Was King: 100 Must-Read Books of 2023 description: Find out why "When Crack Was King" by Donovan X. Ramsey is on TIME's list of the must-read books of the year. canonical: https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2023/6332263/when-crack-was-king/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-11-14T12:30:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-03T00:25:14.124Z og:title: 'When Crack Was King' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2023 og:description: Here's why it made the list og:url: https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2023/6332263/when-crack-was-king/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8dbac29d1fde8ffc/698a41fc096a94f0b66ae4b0/WhenCrackWasKing.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 'When Crack Was King' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2023 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'When Crack Was King' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2023 twitter:description: Here's why it made the list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8dbac29d1fde8ffc/698a41fc096a94f0b66ae4b0/WhenCrackWasKing.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 14, 2023 # When Crack Was King by Donovan X. Ramsey by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff  In _When Crack Was King: A People’s History of a Misunderstood Era_, veteran journalist Donovan X. Ramsey shrewdly disrupts a harmful narrative surrounding the crack epidemic of the 1980s and ’90s. The book—which was longlisted for a 2023 National Book Award—is poignant and emotional, following four individuals who were harmed by the epidemic and telling those stories alongside the author’s own experiences growing up in that same time period in Columbus, Ohio. Ramsey parses how the media and the global campaign launched by the U.S. government, known as “the [war on drugs](https://time.com/6090016/us-war-on-drugs-origins/ "undefined"),” only exacerbated the issue, in particular, for the Black community. A compassionate and urgent story that centers the victims of this superdrug, _When Crack Was King_ is an illuminating look at the devastating, racialized impacts of the U.S. criminal justice system—and a warning for us to do better as more [drug epidemics](https://time.com/6146162/drug-mix-overdose-black-americans/ "undefined") rear their ugly heads. —_Rachel Sonis_ **Buy Now**: _When Crack Was King_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780525511809 "undefined") | [Amazon ](https://amzn.to/3QRbqqI "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2023/6332263/when-crack-was-king/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2023/6332263/when-crack-was-king/"},"headline":"When Crack Was King","datePublished":"2023-11-14T12:30:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:25:14.124Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2023/6332263/when-crack-was-king/","keywords":["Books","list","best books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8dbac29d1fde8ffc/698a41fc096a94f0b66ae4b0/WhenCrackWasKing.jpg?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/blt8dbac29d1fde8ffc/698a41fc096a94f0b66ae4b0/WhenCrackWasKing.jpg?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/must-read-books-2023/6332263/when-crack-was-king/","name":"When Crack Was King"}}]}] ```