When Crack Was King

A People's History of a Misunderstood Era

By: Donovan X. Ramsey

Narrated by: Donovan X. Ramsey

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • A “vivid and frank” (NPR) account of the crack cocaine era and a community’s ultimate resilience, told through a cast of characters whose lives illuminate the dramatic rise and fall of the epidemic

“A master class in disrupting a stubborn narrative, a monumental feat for the fraught subject of addiction in Black communities.”—The Washington Post

“A poignant and compelling re-examination of a tragic era in America history . . . insightful . . . and deeply moving.”—Bryan Stevenson, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Just Mercy

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD • ONE OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY AND VULTURE’S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time, The Washington Post, NPR, Chicago Public Library, Publishers Weekly, She Reads, Electric Lit, The Mary Sue

The crack epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s is arguably the least examined crisis in American history. Beginning with the myths inspired by Reagan’s war on drugs, journalist Donovan X. Ramsey’s exacting analysis traces the path from the last triumphs of the Civil Rights Movement to the devastating realities we live with today: a racist criminal justice system, continued mass incarceration and gentrification, and increased police brutality.

When Crack Was King follows four individuals to give us a startling portrait of crack’s destruction and devastating legacy: Elgin Swift, an archetype of American industry and ambition and the son of a crack-addicted father who turned their home into a “crack house”; Lennie Woodley, a former crack addict and sex worker; Kurt Schmoke, the longtime mayor of Baltimore and an early advocate of decriminalization; and Shawn McCray, community activist, basketball prodigy, and a founding member of the Zoo Crew, Newark’s most legendary group of drug traffickers.

Weaving together riveting research with the voices of survivors, When Crack Was King is a crucial reevaluation of the era and a powerful argument for providing historically violated communities with the resources they deserve.

©2023 Donovan X. Ramsey (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"A compassionate and urgent story that centers the victims of this superdrug, When Crack Was King is an illuminating look at the devastating, racialized impacts of the U.S. criminal justice system—and a warning for us to do better as more drug epidemics rear their ugly heads.”—Time

“[A] panoramic social history . . . Ramsey aims to give the story of the crack epidemic a human face while telling it from start to finish, a herculean task. By and large he succeeds.”—The New York Times

“[Ramsey] makes a convincing case that government policies criminalized what was essentially a public health crisis, and he busts some of the most pernicious media-generated myths of the epidemic—including the much ballyhooed threat of the ‘crack baby.’”—NPR

It's a harrowing account of an epidemic

I loved that the book focused on real people caught up in many aspects of this epidemic and how some still managed to survive.

An excellent must read book for people who care about current political times.

Thank you for this excellent work.
This book makes evident that the real criminals are not locked behind bars but left free to stand on the corpses of victims of self medicating (drug use). These are the criminals voted into political office by duped American voters. Historically they knowingly allowed drugs into the US. Back then it was drugs now it’s guns

The gangster rappers and black movie makers had more impact in decreasing the crack epidemic than Nancy Raven’s “Just say no” slogan. As well meaning as she might have been she just didn’t “know” enough to make a difference. The real difference was made by individuals and communities whose lives were directly affected by political manipulation and the targeted war on people rather than drugs.

An excellent must read book for people who care about these current political times. Remember history is repeating itself.

Drugs and community

Thank you for writing this book. This helps to explain how crack and government destroyed our neighborhoods.

Good but flawed

Really informative read full of important and all too often overlooked information. The cultural conversation on the crack epidemic being reframed as a moral panic was enlightening and the analysis of that panics effect on the political environment was top notch. That said the personal approach to some of the storytelling meant that we were often moved around in time and subjected to a lot of detail that to me seemed to distract.

The performance wasn’t great and was full of poorly mastered punch ins and volume swells that were SUPER distracting.

Intriguing account of the 80’s and 90’s crack era through different lenses

The author describes the era via several different characters and manages to enlighten the reader with scenes and realities that we were not subjected to. This allows you to develop empathy and understanding to many aspects that are hard to describe in a non fiction book Also great survey of different writings, approaches and political opinions with regards to drugs through that period.

Essential chronicling of man-made epidemic

This book puts an era in African American history, often never fully understood or deliberately misrepresented, into individual context. Providing a broad understanding of what led up to it, what transpired during, and the beginnings of emergence from it.

Done by Design

If ever you've referred to someone addicted to Crack as a Crackhead, this review is for you. If ever you voiced or felt Crack was the Negroes problem, this review is for you. If your response to the Opioid crisis is, "We must intervene NOW," and you're old enough to have spoken our during the Crack Era, but didn't, this review is for you!

This story is laced with statistics, facts, details, and real-life examples of those who contributed to one of the most destructive eras in Black American History next to slavery, Jim Crow, and integration Such as failure to address the root issues of infusing a people into a culture deemed to exclude them. I have no idea what led me to this book other than the Holy Spirit, and I'm ever so grateful! This text gives context to the communities I serve as a Hospice Chaplain and Minister of the Gospel. As someone who's family has been shook by issues with drug abuse to include Crack, this book has given insight into the demon that robbed a lot of my people to include my extended family known as the community.

THIS IS A MUST READ!

Very good history and analysis

The following of the 4 characters.
The history and truth about the crack epidemic.
A new way of seeing the reality and the truth and fiction.

Wow...

Listen to this book! Really Listen. This book is amazing and should be on every listen list on the planet. You wanna know this is it

Amazing!!

While listening to this book I reflected on my past child hood and what my community looked like at the time. This book made me smile and cry while thinking of the past