“When the Covid epidemic seized the headlines, America's overdose epidemic did not go away; in fact, it intensified. Beth Macy is one of the great chroniclers of how we got here and where we are headed. RAISING LAZARUS is a necessary companion to the urgent story she told in DOPESICK, a deeply reported, deeply moving, boots on the ground picture of what the crisis of addiction is doing to our country, and of the activists and ordinary people who are working to fight it. In that respect, this is a surprisingly hopeful book, the tale of a catastrophic crisis, but also of profound compassion and the resilience of the human spirit.”
—Patrick Radden Keefe, bestselling author of Empire of Pain
"As if we needed one more reminder of Beth Macy's phenomenal narrative journalism, RAISING LAZARUS takes us to the front lines of the fight for the nation's health. Macy finds unfamiliar heroes in places most of us would lack the will or imagination to explore. It is Macy's commitment to defamiliarizing the opioid epidemic that has, strangely and thankfully, helped so many Americans understand that none of our families are alone in this brutally pervasive fight for our lives."—Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
"Macy brings her empathetic reporter's craft to the oft-ignored problem solvers on the ground---those who, as Macy writes, didn't wait around for justice. Macy didn't either. Unlike so many laws, court decisions, and news stories, Raising Lazarus does right by the victims of the opioid crisis"—Sarah Smarsh, New York Times bestselling author of Heartland
“Macy’s gripping follow-up to the mega-bestselling Dopesick…turns the lens to the fight for justice, from the prosecution of the Sackler family to the reformers pioneering innovative treatments for the afflicted. Enlightening and exhaustive, it’s at once a damning exposé about greed and a moving paean to the power of community activism.”—ESQUIRE (20 Best Books of Summer)
"Raising Lazarus confirms Beth Macy’s status as America's nonfiction laureate of the opioid crisis. This book is a force of inspiration that will make you believe not in miracles but in work – the sheer innovative, determined, empathic work of ordinary Americans. They are shifting the rightful place of shame from drug users to drugmakers."—Evan Osnos, New York Times bestselling author of Wildland
“If Dopesick illuminated the hidden world of opioid addiction, Raising Lazarus puts it under a microscope, showing us what we can do socially, politically, and personally to curb it. It is a book of profound human connection, filled with stories of those determined to save their communities no matter the cost. Macy refuses to let us look away from this urgent, Sisyphean task. Raising Lazarus is humbling, dazzling and infused with hope. Beth Macy is, quite literally, a life saver.”—Rachel Louise Snyder, author of No Visible Bruises
“Beth Macy has done it again. Her clear-sighted, deeply humane reporting takes readers to the front lines of the opioid crisis, where a grassroots network of brave activists work to defy stigma, save lives and hold power to account in the long shadow of the Sackler dynasty. This is potent, essential storytelling and a much-needed reminder of our common humanity that points, ultimately, towards hope.”—Jessica Bruder, author of Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century
“Beth Macy is America’s indispensable guide to the opioid epidemic. She brings great humanity and unparalleled storytelling to her work. Through her, the horrors of opioids are better known but, as this update makes clear, the suffering goes on. We owe her a great debt.”—Anne Case and Angus Deaton, New York Times bestselling authors of Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism
“This essential book is a beautifully crafted work of nonfiction literature, propelled by fierce compassion and a yearning for justice. Beth Macy has an extraordinary gift for encapsulating our nation’s greatest challenges in gripping, intimate, and wise stories of everyday American struggles. RAISING LAZARUS is at once an unblinking and masterful diagnosis of the root causes of our historic overdose crisis and an inspiring and hopeful call to action. Not to be missed."—Carl Erik Fisher, author of The Urge: Our History of Addiction
"Through brilliant prose and journalistic genius, Beth Macy once again opens our hearts and takes us inside the battle to end America’s overdose crisis. RAISING LAZARUS is a coming home story for many of us on the frontlines—a masterfully written, well researched, honest, and hopeful account like no other. Macy’s storytelling is unmatched and translates our experiences into a literary masterpiece—offering a prescriptive path forward to curb this national health crisis."
—Ryan Hampton, person in recovery from addiction, national advocate, and author of Unsettled and American Fix
“A profoundly disconcerting book that, with luck, will inspire reform to aid the dopesick and punish their suppliers.”
—
KIRKUS, Starred Review
“Macy excels at vivid, detailed depictions of the day-to-day struggles of dealing with addiction in several small towns in West Virginia, Indiana, and North Carolina during a period when those communities were also confronting the pandemic…Thoroughly engaged in the lives of her subjects, never dispassionate, Macy immerses readers in horrific reality while illuminating faint hints of hope.”—BOOKLIST, Starred Review
“If you haven’t read or watched Beth Macy’s Dopesick, you should do both, then crack open this followup to find out what the relentless journalist has learned about how our country might stem the tide of a crisis that need never have happened.”—Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times
“[A] deeply reported account of the dark forces at play behind America’s opioid crisis—this time focusing on the ordinary people fighting back against them.”
—
TIME, Best Books of August
“In RAISING LAZARUS, Macy…has moved on to an even more impenetrable question: How the hell do we extract ourselves from this quicksand? The new book represents Macy, one of the pre-eminent chroniclers of the nation’s opioid epidemic, at her full-bore fearless best. Heartsick and determined, she grills drug policy scholars and former drug czars alike. With her big heart affixed conspicuously to her sleeve, Macy introduces readers to people mired in addiction and to those who seek to help them.”—NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"With her empathetic reporting and fearless fact-finding, Beth Macy reports on the opioid crisis like no other. Here, she brings a bit of hope after her devastating first book on the topic, Dopesick (which then became a popular Hulu series)."—CJ Lotz, CJ Lotz, Garden & Gun
