Disclaimer: I received a digital ARC via Netgalley.
Ramsey’s book is one on hand a history of the cocaine and crack epidemic, and on the other hand a history of four people during the epidemic. The four people include an addict, two dealers, and a politician.
The use of biography and history works well because it shows that history, the facts, aren’t simply abstract facts but have real people on the end of them. And while many people undoubtedly are always aware of this, many other people aren’t. There are reasons why teachers usually diaries and first-hand accounts when teaching major historical events and issues such as the Holocaust or when teaching slavery. This book, importantly, follows in that vein, showcasing the real impact of various policies or lack of policies as well as the impact of drugs themselves.
Ramsey takes an issue that has several different aspects to it – not just drugs and addicts, but Civil Rights among others – and weaves them together in an easy to follow and engrossing history. At times, the book is difficult to read, yet it is worth reading. Not only should we be confronted with uncomfortable truths but also, so we know what happened.
In many ways, this is an excellent book to assign to a college class or an upper-level high school class. It is clear, concise, and has an emotional impact. Students should be able to see themselves in the four people that Ramsey has chosen to highlight, at least in terms of the background of those people. I mentioned this book when a student asked what I was reading, and he immediately said that he wanted to read it. And if that isn’t an endorsement, then I really don’t know what is.
If I had any quibble with this book it has to do with the four people who were chosen. It should be noted that Ramsey treats all four with respect. But the ratio is 3:1 in favor of men, and the one woman is the one addict. This isn’t a problem, and her story, because of who she becomes, is vitally important. I just wish there had been another non-addict female voice to balance out the male voices. I do love the fact that Ramsey included a politician, and that provides a unique use of the narratives because we are getting them from different perspectives on all sides of the issue/history.

When Crack was King

When Crack was King by Donovan X. Ramsey is the recounting of the crack Cocaine epidemic in American and what led many black Americans to experience its futile depths.

In 1970’s America, there was a feeling that the black American could do anything if given the chance. Unfortunately many were not given that chance. According to Ramsey, “Unbridled ambition requires a vehicle. Without one, it can torture those who have it, perverting their judgment until ambition meets opportunity and is finally satisfied. It seems that’s what happened for many young Blacks in the late 1970s determined to let “nothin’, nothin’ ” stand in their way. Cocaine seemed tailor-made for the moment.”

Cocaine, or Crack after the crackling sound it makes while cooking, spread through the urban American poor in the 1970s, relieving the pain of those who could get ahold of it for a short while. As with so much in the cultural zeitgeist, cocaine was taken both too seriously and not seriously enough in the beginning. Black America was seen by White America as both pathetic and degenerate while refusing to take any of the blame onto themselves for decades of systematic racism (sound familiar?).

I found this book interesting because much of this was happening as I grew up. I was born in 1985, just a year after the “Just Say No” (to drugs) campaign was launched. I was a part of my school’s DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance) Program - largely considered a failure.

The author seamlessly integrated both the history of “the war on drugs” was well as personal accounts into the narrative. Instead of just reading the facts from a distance we are able to experience with heart-wrenching clarity why people used cocaine.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in the politics of addiction and crime as well as the history of how Cocaine impacted black America.

Rating: 5/5
Genre: Addiction/History/Politics

Donovan X. Ramsey's sweeping but intimate account of the crack epidemic is a story of Black resilience in late 20th century urban America. Ramsey documents the damage that crack did to individuals and their communities, but he also shows how that damage was intensified by the accompanying moral panic, born of anti-Black racism and political opportunism. Ramsey weaves together social science, political history, cultural history, and personal narratives of those whose lives were altered by crack to make the compelling argument that Black communities emerged from the crack epidemic not because of clumsy health interventions and overbearing police responses, but through their own communal antibodies, generated in response to a destructive presence.