Arlington Reads brings authors and readers together to talk about the important topics of our time.
Beth Macy
Tuesday, Nov. 13, 7-9 p.m. at Central Library
In a heartbreaking trajectory that illustrates how this national crisis has persisted for so long and become so firmly entrenched - from distressed small communities in Central Appalachia to wealthy suburbs; from disparate cities to once-idylic farm towns - Beth Macy's takes us into the epicenter of America's twenty-plus year struggle with opioid addiction.
From the introduction of OxyContin in 1996, Macy parses how America embraced a medical culture where over treatment with painkillers became the norm. In some of the same communities featured in her bestselling book "Factory Man," the unemployed use painkillers both to numb the pain of joblessness and pay their bills, while privileged teens trade pills in cul-de-sacs, and even high school standouts fall prey to prostitution, jail, and death.
Beginning with a single dealer who lands in a small Virginia town and sets about turning high school football stars into heroin overdose statistics, Macy endeavors to answer a grieving mother's question - why her only son died - and comes away with a harrowing story of greed and need.
Arlington Reads, a community engagement program of Arlington Public Library, promotes literacy, the joy of reading and intergenerational participation.
“The program brings together people to talk about books and the important topics of our time,” said Library Director Diane Kresh.
Since its inception in 2006, Arlington Reads has featured both national and international fiction and nonfiction authors and cultural icons, such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Wendell Berry, Katherine Boo, Matthew Desmond, Junot Díaz, Anthony Doerr, Richard Ford, Colum McCann, Tim O’Brien, Ann Patchett, Viet Thanh Nguyen and Elizabeth Strout.
Arlington Reads is made possible in part through the generous support of the Friends of the Arlington Public Library.
Upcoming Events
Nov. 13 - Beth Macy, Author of "Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America"
Arlington Reads Archive
2018 - Zadie Smith
2018 - Habitats for Inhumanity
2017 - Why Fiction Matters
2016 - The Human Displacement of WWII
2015 - Being Black in America
2014 - Dazed and Confused: Boomer Angst
2013 - Out of Bounds: the Immigrant Experience
2012 - Life, Love, Loss
2011 - The Soldier's Story
2010 - Know What You Eat
2009 - Inside the Supreme Court
