Getting Dopesick: Four Angles on the Opioid Crisis

Send us Fan MailWe feature four different angles addressing the opioid crisis, mostly as the opioid product OxyContin is involved and as the Appalachian region is affected. Our objective is to show how realms outside Biomedicine—the Humanities, in this case—can provide a range of perspectives suited to preferences, interests, and needs for understanding a particular issue. The four angles we feature are: nonfiction investigative journalism; nonfiction dramatization; narrative nonfiction; and literary fiction. We consider different approaches to selecting the best choice or the best order among available options. Source Citations:Macy B. Dopesick. New York; Little, Brown, and Company, 2018Strong D. Dopesick. John Goldwyn Productions, 2021 (streamed on Hulu)Keefe PR. Empire of Pain. New York; Doubleday, 2021.Kingsolver B. Demon Copperhead; Harper, 2022. (Winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)Links:Russell Teagardens According to the Arts blog pieces mentioned in the podcast: Dopesick (nonfiction book – investigative) Dopesick (TV miniseries)Empire of Pain (narrative nonfiction)Demon Copperhead (novel) Russell Teagarden’s article in The Pharos comparing Dopesick (the book and the TV miniseries) with Demon CopperheadRecommendations:Barbara Kingsolver in conversation with Beth Macy (Nov 2, 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSglbhS1-WU&t=15s De Quincey T. Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. New York; Penguin Classics, 2003. (See Russell Teagarden’s blog piece on this book here.) Daudet A. In the Land of Pain. (Translator Julian Barnes) New York; Alfred A. Knopf, 2002. (See Russell Teagarden’s blog piece on this book here.)Please send us comments, recommendations, and questions to: [email protected] for listening, and please subscribe to The Clinic & The Person wherever you get your podcasts. Executive producer:  Anne Bentley