Containing Addiction with Busboys and Poets Books
Date and Time
Apr 18, 2018 7:00 pm
Location
14th & V
2021 14th St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20009
Apr 18, 2018 7:00 pm
14th & V
Please join Busboys and Poets Books as we welcome author Matthew R. Pembleton to 14th and V.
The story of America’s "War on Drugs" usually begins with Nixon or Reagan, but the United States has battled drugs and addiction for over a century. In Containing Addiction, Matthew R. Pembleton argues the drug war became a reality in the years following World War II, when the Federal Bureau of Narcotics—the country’s first drug control agency—turned drug control into global paramilitary conflict and first sent agents abroad to disrupt the flow of drugs to American shores. For those interested in the history of the drug war—or its end—this talk offers fresh insights into how the nation’s long struggle with addiction fostered an adversarial style of drug control that ultimately produced the era of mass incarceration and the opioid crisis.
Matthew R. Pembleton is an historian of 20th century America, drug policy, and U.S. foreign relations. He teaches at American University and recently joined the DC Policy Center as a Fellow working on drug policy in the District. His writing has been featured in the Journal of American Culture, the Journal of Cold War Studies, History News Network, and the Washington Post.
This event is co-sponsored by the University of Massachusetts Press and American University's Department of History. Books will be available before and after the event. Please contact books@busboysandpoets.com with questions.
