Fentanyl, Inc.

How did society go from consuming relatively safe drugs like pot and ecstasy to addictive, lethal synthetic drugs like fentanyl opioids? Investigative reporter Ben Westhoff, who spent four years tracing the origins of the global epidemic, draws a clear line from the drug-makers in China to the cartels in Mexico supplying Western demand, while acknowledging blame on all sides. It’s a grim, but accurate portrait of a powerful motif in contemporary American life: addiction. Westhoff argues that no war on drugs can succeed, and that the United States should adopt the harm-reduction practices of Europe and Canada.

Yahoo Finance, The Daily Telegraph, Kirkus Reviews, Buzzfeed and The St. Louis Post-Dispatch all chose this as one of their Best Books of the Year. The National Book Review called it, “Extensively reported and vividly written.” USA Today found it, “Timely and agonizing.” And Dig Boston said, “The most frightening book of the year, and it’s mandatory reading.”