When Crack Was King: A People's History of a Misunderstood Era
by Donovan X. Ramsey
Descriptions
A kaleidoscopic 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?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 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 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
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https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1PK6XvRZxIycLt3ypLhphdDBunNRF_yUM
