The opioid epidemic is often framed as either a legal or public health problem. In this insightful work, Tiara Good approaches it as a rhetorical problem and examines the ways opioid addiction has become meaningful in American culture. Moving confidently across cinematic, political, governmental, and press accounts, Good explores the processes through which we have come to talk and feel about this public health crisis and the way these discourses have shaped our policies and practices.

Kendall Phillips, Syracuse University

This is a smart and deeply humane book. It’s essential reading for anyone interested in the opioid epidemic—but even more broadly, Prof. Good’s insights should jump start a conversation, in academic and beyond, about how our rhetoric can create and compound the suffering of people caught up in any epidemic. At its best, rhetorical scholarship seeks to make the world a better place, and this is rhetorical scholarship at its best.

Jeremy David Engels, Penn State University

Much has been written about the opioid and ‘deaths of despair’ epidemics from the vantage point of the two being unrelated, albeit co-occurring, tragedies. However, Dr. Good explores the two as a syndemic with common underlying causes rooted in poverty, inequality, trauma, hopelessness, and opportunistic greed. This is a must-read for medical professionals, legislators, and the countless families harmed by the co-occurring crises.

Paul Coelho, Medical Director of Salem Health Pain Clinic