Listen free for 30 days
-
Dreamland
- The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
- Narrated by: Tom Jordan
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, True Crime
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £34.29
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Empire of Pain
- The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied institutions–Harvard; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Oxford; the Louvre. They are one of the richest families in the world, known for their lavish donations in the arts and the sciences. The source of the family fortune was vague, however, until it emerged that the Sacklers were responsible for making and marketing Oxycontin, a blockbuster painkiller that was a catalyst for the opioid crisis–an international epidemic of drug addiction which has killed nearly half a million people.
-
-
An angry, populist, gossipy book that doesn’t engage seriously with the issues
- By Megan on 01-07-21
-
The Least of Us
- By: Sam Quinones
- Narrated by: Tom Jordan
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the New York Times best-selling author of Dreamland, a searing follow-up that explores the terrifying next stages of the opioid epidemic and the quiet yet ardent stories of community repair.
-
-
Good but.....
- By Cagriff on 08-05-22
-
American Fix
- Inside the Opioid Addiction Crisis - and How to End It
- By: Ryan Hampton
- Narrated by: Ryan Hampton
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly every American knows someone who has been affected by the opioid crisis. Addiction is a trans-partisan issue that impacts individuals from every walk of life. Millions of Americans are tired of watching their loved ones die while politicians ignore this issue. Where is the solution? Where is the hope? Where's the outrage? Ryan Hampton understands firsthand how easy it is to develop a dependency on opioids, and how destructive it can quickly become. Now, he is waging a permanent campaign to change our way of thinking about and addressing addiction in this country.
-
Becoming Ms. Burton
- From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women
- By: Susan Burton, Cari Lynn
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Susan Burton's world changed in an instant when her five-year-old son was killed by a van driving down their street. Consumed by grief and without access to professional help, Susan self-medicated, becoming addicted first to cocaine then to crack. As a resident of South Los Angeles, a Black community under siege in the War on Drugs, it was but a matter of time before Susan was arrested. She cycled in and out of prison for over 15 years; never was she offered therapy or treatment for addiction.
-
-
State-Enabled Racism, and How to Survive It
- By Philip on 22-04-18
-
Dopesick
- By: Beth Macy
- Narrated by: Beth Macy
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This powerful and moving story explains how a large corporation, Purdue, encouraged small-town doctors to prescribe OxyContin to a country already awash in painkillers. The drug's dangerously addictive nature was hidden, whilst many used it as an escape, to numb the pain of of joblessness and the need to pay the bills. Macy tries to answer a grieving mother's question - why her only son died - and comes away with a harrowing tale of greed and need.
-
-
Interesting, but don't recommend the audiobook
- By Nathalie P on 11-08-20
-
Beside the Troubled Waters
- A Black Doctor Remembers Life, Medicine, and Civil Rights in an Alabama Town
- By: Dr. Sonnie Wellington Hereford III M.D., Jack D. Ellis
- Narrated by: Kenneth J. Lee
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beside the Troubled Waters is a memoir by an African-American physician in Alabama whose story in many ways typifies the lives and careers of Black doctors in the south during the segregationist era while also illustrating the diversity of the Black experience in the medical profession.
-
-
Well worth your time :)
- By P. J. Bell on 05-06-16
-
Empire of Pain
- The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied institutions–Harvard; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Oxford; the Louvre. They are one of the richest families in the world, known for their lavish donations in the arts and the sciences. The source of the family fortune was vague, however, until it emerged that the Sacklers were responsible for making and marketing Oxycontin, a blockbuster painkiller that was a catalyst for the opioid crisis–an international epidemic of drug addiction which has killed nearly half a million people.
-
-
An angry, populist, gossipy book that doesn’t engage seriously with the issues
- By Megan on 01-07-21
-
The Least of Us
- By: Sam Quinones
- Narrated by: Tom Jordan
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the New York Times best-selling author of Dreamland, a searing follow-up that explores the terrifying next stages of the opioid epidemic and the quiet yet ardent stories of community repair.
-
-
Good but.....
- By Cagriff on 08-05-22
-
American Fix
- Inside the Opioid Addiction Crisis - and How to End It
- By: Ryan Hampton
- Narrated by: Ryan Hampton
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly every American knows someone who has been affected by the opioid crisis. Addiction is a trans-partisan issue that impacts individuals from every walk of life. Millions of Americans are tired of watching their loved ones die while politicians ignore this issue. Where is the solution? Where is the hope? Where's the outrage? Ryan Hampton understands firsthand how easy it is to develop a dependency on opioids, and how destructive it can quickly become. Now, he is waging a permanent campaign to change our way of thinking about and addressing addiction in this country.
-
Becoming Ms. Burton
- From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women
- By: Susan Burton, Cari Lynn
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Susan Burton's world changed in an instant when her five-year-old son was killed by a van driving down their street. Consumed by grief and without access to professional help, Susan self-medicated, becoming addicted first to cocaine then to crack. As a resident of South Los Angeles, a Black community under siege in the War on Drugs, it was but a matter of time before Susan was arrested. She cycled in and out of prison for over 15 years; never was she offered therapy or treatment for addiction.
-
-
State-Enabled Racism, and How to Survive It
- By Philip on 22-04-18
-
Dopesick
- By: Beth Macy
- Narrated by: Beth Macy
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This powerful and moving story explains how a large corporation, Purdue, encouraged small-town doctors to prescribe OxyContin to a country already awash in painkillers. The drug's dangerously addictive nature was hidden, whilst many used it as an escape, to numb the pain of of joblessness and the need to pay the bills. Macy tries to answer a grieving mother's question - why her only son died - and comes away with a harrowing tale of greed and need.
-
-
Interesting, but don't recommend the audiobook
- By Nathalie P on 11-08-20
-
Beside the Troubled Waters
- A Black Doctor Remembers Life, Medicine, and Civil Rights in an Alabama Town
- By: Dr. Sonnie Wellington Hereford III M.D., Jack D. Ellis
- Narrated by: Kenneth J. Lee
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beside the Troubled Waters is a memoir by an African-American physician in Alabama whose story in many ways typifies the lives and careers of Black doctors in the south during the segregationist era while also illustrating the diversity of the Black experience in the medical profession.
-
-
Well worth your time :)
- By P. J. Bell on 05-06-16
-
This is Your Country on Drugs
- The Secret History of Getting High in America
- By: Ryan Grim
- Narrated by: Milton Bagby
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Past antidrug campaigns actually encouraged drug use. A few years ago, America stopped dropping acid altogether. The meth epidemic peaked a long, long time ago. NAFTA opened the border and created a bonanza for cocaine and meth traffickers just as President Clinton knew it would. President Reagan may have inadvertently caused the crack epidemic. Kids today are doing fewer illegal drugs than kids from any time in the recent past, and for a surprising reason.
-
America Anonymous
- Eight Addicts in Search of a Life
- By: Benoit Denizet-Lewis
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America Anonymous is the unforgettable story of eight men and women from around the country - including a grandmother, a college student, a bodybuilder, and a housewife - who are struggling with addictions. For nearly three years, acclaimed journalist Benoit Denizet-Lewis immersed himself in their lives as they battled drug and alcohol abuse, overeating, and compulsive gambling and sexuality.
-
Things Fell Apart
- Strange Stories from the History of the Culture Wars
- By: Jon Ronson
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 3 hrs and 43 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From taking the knee to transgender rights, wedge issues are everywhere in modern life - dividing opinions, polarising debate and tearing friendships and families apart. Even something as seemingly innocuous as wearing a facemask can provoke vicious disagreement. But how did we get here, and what does it mean for society going forward? In this gripping series, acclaimed writer and journalist Jon Ronson searches for the origin stories of the hostilities - the pebbles thrown in the pond, creating the ripples that led to where we are today.
-
-
this is a free podcast
- By JB R on 16-03-22
-
Say Nothing
- A True Story Of Murder and Memory In Northern Ireland
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Matt Blaney
- Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A shocking true story of murder, extreme politics and the deep scars left by the Troubles in Ireland of the 1970s and the human consequences. A taut tale of murder, extreme politics, institutionalised violence and the deep scars left by such turmoil. In this powerful, scrupulously reported book, Patrick Radden Keefe offers not just a forensic account of a brutal crime but a vivid portrait of the world in which it happened. The tragedy of an entire country is captured in the spellbinding narrative of a handful of characters, presented in lyrical and unforgettable detail.
-
-
Totally Biased
- By mrshakeyhandman on 26-05-20
-
Fix the System, Not the Women
- By: Laura Bates
- Narrated by: Laura Bates
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Too often, we blame women. For walking home alone at night. For not demanding a seat at the table. For not overcoming the odds that are stacked against them. This distracts us from the real problem: the failings and biases of a society that was not built for women. In this explosive book, feminist writer and activist Laura Bates exposes the systemic prejudice at the heart of five of our key institutions.
-
-
Another wonderful, impactful book by Laura Bates
- By Murray on 15-05-22
-
Bad Blood
- Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
- By: John Carreyrou
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The full inside story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of a multibillion-dollar start-up, by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end. In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the female Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose start-up ‘unicorn’ promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood tests significantly faster and easier.
-
-
Brilliant
- By Amazon Customer on 24-08-18
-
Deep Cover
- How I Took Down Britain’s Most Dangerous Gangsters
- By: Shay Doyle, Scott Hesketh
- Narrated by: Christopher Coghill
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shay grew up on a tough Manchester council estate where drugs and gangs were rife. A life of crime would have been an easy path to take. So it went against everything that was expected of him when he joined the police. It wouldn't be long before Shay's prodigious talent caught the attention of the top. Then came the call that changed his life: an offer to join the secret level one undercover unit known as Omega. And it was easy to see why they wanted him; he wouldn't have to stray too far from what he already knew.
-
-
Fantastic gripping listen
- By Justine on 28-05-22
-
On Pills and Needles
- The Relentless Fight to Save My Son from Opioid Addiction
- By: Rick Van Warner
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Rick Van Warner found himself searching abandoned buildings and dangerous streets looking for his missing son, he had no idea that the synthetic, pill-form heroin that had snared his teen was already killing so many. In the years of pain and heartache that followed, as he tried to save his son from opioid addiction, Van Warner discovered what the American public is just now becoming aware of: Opioids prescribed for even minor pain relief are so addictive that even a few days of use can create dependency.
-
-
Heart wrenching yet uplifting story
- By Catsexyfeline on 17-03-22
-
Slaves Among Us
- The Hidden World of Human Trafficking
- By: Monique Villa
- Narrated by: Vivienne Leheny
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through the stories of three remarkable individuals who share how they fell victim to traffickers and how their bodies and souls resisted an enterprise of total destruction, Monique Villa takes us around the world - from Ohio to Tokyo, London to India, Qatar to Colombia - to uncover a parallel world where men, women, and children are dehumanized and reduced to obedient machines. Written by a global leader in the fight against human trafficking, this powerful book uncovers the hidden world of slaves - no longer in physical chains - who walk among us, trapped in a cycle of exploitation.
-
In My Father's House
- A New View of How Crime Runs in the Family
- By: Fox Butterfield
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist: a pathbreaking examination of our huge crime and incarceration problem that looks at the influence of the family - specifically one Oregon family with a generations-long legacy of lawlessness. Examining the long history of the Bogles, a white family, Butterfield offers a revelatory look at criminality that forces us to disentangle race from our ideas about crime and, in doing so, strikes at the heart of our deepest stereotypes.
-
The Black and the Blue
- By: Matthew Horace, Ron Harris
- Narrated by: Matthew Horace
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During his 28-year career, Matthew Horace rose through the ranks from a police officer working the beat to a federal agent working criminal cases in some of the toughest communities in America to a highly decorated federal law enforcement executive managing high-profile investigations nationwide. Yet it was not until seven years into his service - when Horace found himself face down on the ground with a gun pointed at his head by a white fellow officer - that he fully understood the racism seething within America's police departments.
-
-
Essential listening.
- By Anonymous User on 30-08-21
-
The Hospital
- Life, Death, and Dollars in a Small American Town
- By: Brian Alexander
- Narrated by: Nick Landrum
- Length: 14 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By following the struggle for survival of one small-town hospital, and the patients who walk, or are carried, through its doors, The Hospital takes listeners into the world of the American medical industry in a way no audiobook has done before. Americans are dying sooner, and living in poorer health. Alexander argues that no plan will solve America’s health crisis until the deeper causes of that crisis are addressed.
Summary
Bloomsbury presents Dreamland by Sam Quinones, read by Tom Jordan.
Winner of the NBCC Award for General Nonfiction.
Named on Slate's 50 Best Nonfiction Books of the Past 25 Years, Amazon's Best Books of the Year 2015—Michael Botticelli, U.S. Drug Czar (Politico) Favourite Book of the Year—Angus Deaton, Nobel Prize Economics (Bloomberg/WSJ) Best Books of 2015—Matt Bevin, Governor of Kentucky (WSJ) Books of the Year—Slate.com’s 10 Best Books of 2015—Entertainment Weekly’s 10 Best Books of 2015—BuzzFeed’s 19 Best Nonfiction Books of 2015—The Daily Beast’s Best Big Idea Books of 2015—Seattle Times’ Best Books of 2015—Boston Globe’s Best Books of 2015—St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Best Books of 2015—The Guardian’s The Best Book We Read All Year—Audible’s Best Books of 2015—Texas Observer’s Five Books We Loved in 2015—Chicago Public Library’s Best Nonfiction Books of 2015
From a small town in Mexico to the boardrooms of Big Pharma to main streets nationwide, an explosive and shocking account of addiction in the heartland of America.
In 1929, in the blue-collar city of Portsmouth, Ohio, a company built a swimming pool the size of a football field; named Dreamland, it became the vital centre of the community. Now, addiction has devastated Portsmouth, as it has hundreds of small rural towns and suburbs across America—addiction like no other the country has ever faced. How that happened is the riveting story of Dreamland.
With a great reporter’s narrative skill and the storytelling ability of a novelist, acclaimed journalist Sam Quinones weaves together two classic tales of capitalism run amok whose unintentional collision has been catastrophic. The unfettered prescribing of pain medications during the 1990s reached its peak in Purdue Pharma’s campaign to market OxyContin, its new, expensive—extremely addictive—miracle painkiller. Meanwhile, a massive influx of black tar heroin—cheap, potent and originating from one small county on Mexico’s west coast, independent of any drug cartel—assaulted small town and mid-sized cities across the country, driven by a brilliant, almost unbeatable marketing and distribution system. Together these phenomena continue to lay waste to communities from Tennessee to Oregon, Indiana to New Mexico.
Introducing a memorable cast of characters—pharma pioneers, young Mexican entrepreneurs, narcotics investigators, survivors and parents—Quinones shows how these tales fit together. Dreamland is a revelatory account of the corrosive threat facing America and its heartland.
Critic reviews
"Does what Fast Food Nation did for fast food to black tar heroin and oxycodone.... A stunning journalistic journey that follows the history and narrative trajectories that lead to this entirely new style of cultivating drug addiction.... I just love this book." (Marc Maron)
More from the same
Narrator
What listeners say about Dreamland
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- BG
- 30-06-22
This book is.....addictive
From the myriad of interesting characters, to the history, design, and culture of some of the most addictive drugs on the planet, and the people who use and sell them, to the narrator's soothing voice, I was hooked right from the start. This is a great book for those who want to know about opioid history in the US.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Joe
- 01-08-22
Excellent
As an addiction medical professional I generally avoid listening to audiobooks on the topic as I like to use these as an escape from the occasional stressor of an emotional profession. however Dreamland was reccomended to me and I was blown away. The author does a tremendous job weaving together the many factors and faces and history of the opioid epidemic in America. I could not stop listening and thank him for his service with this book.