Beth Macy
Beth Macy, the author of “Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America,†is coming to Abingdon Sunday, Aug. 19, at 3 p.m. at the Sinking Spring Presbyterian Church as part of her national book tour.
“Dopesick†is the first book to fully chart the opioid crisis in America an unforgettable portrait of the families and first responders on the front lines of the country’s 20-plus year struggle. The book is set in Southwest Virginia, in Lee County, Lebanon, Abingdon and Roanoke, as well as northern Virginia and the town of Woodstock.
Beginning with a single dealer who lands in St. Charles, Lee County, Virginia, and sets about turning high school football stars into heroin overdose statistics, Macy endeavors to answer a grieving mother’s question of why her only son died and comes away with a harrowing story of greed and need. From the introduction of OxyContin in 1996, Macy explores how America embraced a medical culture where overtreatment with painkillers became the norm.
Macy is a former journalist with the Roanoke Times who over the last several years has become one of America’s finest writers of creative non-fiction. She is the author of “Factory Man,†about the death of the textile industry in Southside Virginia, and of “Truevine,†the true story of two African-American brothers who were kidnapped and displayed as circus freaks in the early twentieth century.
The event is part of the literary series, Sunday with Friends, sponsored by the Friends of the Washington County Public Library.
