Beth Macy

Oxycontin and the resulting flood of heroin has killed more people than AIDS. In fact, it's also rapidly increasing the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C.

What makes this book special is Marcy's long-standing investigative reporting. As she walks you through events from 10 years ago, 5 years ago, etc: she was there. As she describes the trials and tribulations of someone who's died, it's because she knew that person and was interviewing them before they died. This is a non-fiction page turner. show more She also focuses much more on addicts avoiding dopesickness than on them getting high for kicks, although that's how it starts.

What can we do? She hammers home a few things, though there is no one ultimate solution. More money to clinics with better oversight (there are tons of shady detox clinics). More focus on methadone, suboxone, and vivitrol. The later two drugs come with their own share of problems, but are still what research shows works best. Next, universal health care that includes addiction treatment--the vast majority of rehabs and detox programs are totally unaffordable.

A problem she didn't discuss much is that the cause of the crisis is related to the cure. Oxy flowed to make Bayer billions, results be damned. They changed the formula to make it abuse-resistant, but only as their patent for regular Oxy was running out. Vivitrol is a monthly shot that makes users immune to opiates, but one shot costs ~$1,500. Why? Because it's proprietary; drug companies want to make the same killing off saving people that Bayer made off of killing them. show less

Back in 2016, I went to the library to find out what the big to do was about the newest, hottest book around, “Hillbilly Elegy” by an upstart Yale-educated hillbilly named J.D. Vance. He wrote about his hometown of Middletown, Ohio, which is not far from where I live. Western Ohio, like much of the Midwest has been darkly affected by the influx of drugs, drugs which addicts lean on in the absence of education, employment, and an otherwise rewarding life. Beth Macy’s book is about show more another Ohio town, Urbana, similarly affected by the same things that transformed Middletown. The difference in the two books is Beth Macy is the real deal. J.D. Vance is a phony. it’s really too bad Macy didn’t beat the Yalie to the punch and get “Paper Girl” out first. I think it might have had more of an impact than it has. Macy wrote this book at the beginning of the second Trump administration, presumably before much of the end of first year damage had been done. Her anger at the end of her book is evident, and that anger would have been multiplied had the book come out a few months later. My only regret in reading “Paper Girl” is my own anger was amplified as I read her account of Urbana and the social and political disaster that this country has become. And the saddest thing is, like most of America, I’m just worn out and am becoming numb to it all. show less

This one interested me after watching the television/streaming adaptation that came out a few years back. It's a history of the opioid epidemic that started in the rural areas of Virginia and other states. Macy, a newspaper woman, produced a deeply researched and interconnected narrative that covers everything. She even gives us the etymology of the terms 'junkie' and 'hipster' with explanations that surprised me. Mostly, though, she eviscerates the drug companies who are almost singularly show more to blame - almost, because some doctors and the healthcare industry bear some responsibility, as well. Along the way, Macy also examines the cultures and economies of rural America that are informative. My only criticism is that, in looking at those cultures and economies, Macy largely forgives the people living in those places any individual responsibility in the difficulties the places face. I can't give a small town a complete pass, even in the face of all the forces at work against them, if they surrender their own agency to the problems. But the blame is largely not theirs in the end, even if there were options the people and communities chose to ignore. The best part of the book is the herculean efforts on the part of everyday citizens to address the crisis when the government and corporations refused to help.

Highly Recommended!!!!!
4 1/2 bones!!!!! show less

Summary: A memoir about growing up in Urbana, Ohio and how the town changed in ways that reflects the struggles of rural America.

Beth Macy grew up in Urbana, Ohio, the county seat of Champaign County, about an hour west of where I live. She grew up in a family with a mostly absentee father. As the title suggests, to supplement the family income and have some spending money, she delivered the daily paper to a section of the town and got to know those families well. With the support of her show more mother, older siblings and teachers, she managed to do well in school. Then she learned of the Pell Grant program, that enabled her to complete journalism studies at Bowling Green State University. From there, she went on to a career in journalism and published several best-selling books.

Her mother remained in Urbana and as her health declined, Macy spent more time there and noticed the dramatic changes in her former home. It came home to her when she met Silas James, a talented graduate from her high school from a similar poor background. She describes his struggle to find hope and his efforts to scrape together the means to enroll in a two-year welding course and cobble together transportation to get there. She wonders why the investment in her education was no longer available for someone like Silas.

And she began to notice other changes. Declining graduation rates. Confederate flags in what was once a Union stronghold and underground railroad stop. Local companies sold to outside or foreign interests followed by layoffs. The paper she delivered and later interned with was down to two issues a week and barely hanging on. Talking to counselors at the high school, she learned of stunning amounts of abuse. There were changes among former classmates and family as well. A former boyfriend, a one-time radical, was deep into QAnon.

This book is both a memoir of growing up, with lots of memories of siblings and friends, and an exploration of the cultural changes and political divides she was encountering. Rather than simply cut off contact with those she disagreed with, including families, she interviewed a number of them as a good reporter. This was not always easy. For example, one sister told her the idea of her son marrying another man was an “abomination.” But she learns about the church and political beliefs that led to these differences. She showed up for homecomings and reunions.

More than that, she weighed how broader changes in the country contributed to the changes in her town. She looks at the gutting of the Pell Grant program, so helpful to her, that resulted in making it so much harder for students like Silas to get an education. She lays blame on both parties for forgetting rural America, except to harvest their votes. NAFTA led to the offshoring that closed factories that were the backbone of small towns throughout Ohio. Drugmakers made huge profits on addictive drugs that destroyed lives and families. And media echo chambers engendered distrust of other media, science, and education.

As she listens, and sometimes argues, she also wrestles with her own contribution to the divides. The last part of the book is titled “Showing Up.” Despite the hits, she keeps showing up with aging sisters, recalling family memories, particularly when her mom passes. And she grieves the death of her ex-boyfriend, who lacked health insurance. He delayed going to the hospital for too long with a case of pneumonia. Through all the discouragement of the 2024 election and its aftermath, she doesn’t give up. Recalling her rural roots, she contends that “We must scramble for hope fiercely, the way a farm girl wrestles with a muddy sow.”

The city where I live is a government/business/education/tech center and has boomed. Politically, it is a blue island. A majority of Ohio’s 88 counties struggle with the same issues as Urbana. I grew up in Youngstown (and was a paperboy). While Youngstown was and still is much larger (59,000 vs. Urbana’s 11,000), I’ve seen the same kinds of changes Macy describes. She helped me understand rural Ohio. Not only does she model a posture of grace for how we show up. She also models the fierce hope we need to lean into. And she makes the urgent case for forgotten rural America. show less