Book & podcast collection

When Crack Was King: A People’s History of a Misunderstood Era

byDonovan X. Ramsey

Journalist Donovan X. Ramsey tells the crack era through people who used, sold, survived, policed, treated, and organized around the drug. He traces the crisis from the aftermath of civil-rights gains through deindustrialization, urban disinvestment, media panic, punitive laws, and mass incarceration. Personal narratives challenge stereotypes that turned Black communities into symbols rather than places filled with families and political choices. Ramsey shows how government responses often intensified harm while ignoring addiction and economic conditions, offering a people's history that connects the 1980s and 1990s to enduring racial and criminal-justice inequalities.

Publisher

One World, Random House Publishing Group

Publication date

2023

Format

Print edition

Pages

427

ISBN

9780525511809