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

ONE OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY’S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time, The Washington Post, NPR, Chicago Public Library, Publishers Weekly

When Crack Was King follows four individuals who give us a startling portrait of the crack epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s—arguably the least examined crisis in American history—destruction and devastating legacy. Beginning with the myths inspired by Reagan's war on drugs, journalist Donovan X. Ramsey's exacting work exposes the undeniable links between the epidemic and the consequences we live with today—a racist criminal justice system, continued mass incarceration and gentrification, and increased police brutality. Through the stories of: Elgin Swift, an archetype of American industry and ambition and son of a crack-addicted father who turned their home into a “crack house”; Lennie Woodley, a former crack addict and a sex worker; Kurt Schmoke, former mayor of Baltimore and an early advocate of decriminalization; and lastly, Shawn McCray, community activist, basketball prodigy, and a founding member of the Zoo Crew, Newark's most legendary group of drug traffickers.
When Crack Was King is a crucial re-evaluation of the era and a powerful argument for providing historically violated communities with the resources they deserve.

Noteworthy Discoveries
How the crack epidemic really began
How both Democrats and Republicans failed urban America during the crack epidemic
How Dr. Dre's The Chronic helped turn the page on the crack epidemic
How young people of color ended the crack epidemic
Why Joe Biden owes urban Americans an explanation for the crack epidemic
Lessons from the crack epidemic for the opioid epidemic

Story Locale:United States in the 1980s and 1990s: specifically Los Angeles, CA; Baltimore, MD; New York City, NY; and Newark, NJ
Contributor Bio(s)
Donovan X. Ramsey is a journalist, author, and indispensable voice on issues of race, politics, and patterns of power in America. His reporting has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, GQ, WSJ Magazine, Ebony, and Essence. He has been a staff reporter at the Los Angeles Times, NewsOne, and theGrio. He served as an editor at The Marshall Project and Complex. Ramsey holds a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Morehouse College.

Author Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Author Hometown: Columbus, OH