Ben Westhoff's Books

Fentanyl, Inc.

How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic

By: Ben Westhoff

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Fentanyl, Inc.

How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic

By: Ben Westhoff

A four-year investigation into the world of synthetic drugs—from black market factories to users & dealers to harm reduction activists—and what it revealed. A deeply human story, Fentanyl, Inc. is the first deep-dive investigation of a hazardous and illicit industry that has created a worldwide epidemic, ravaging communities and overwhelming and confounding government agencies that are challenged to combat it. “A whole new crop of chemicals is radically changing the recreational drug landscape,” writes Ben Westhoff. “These are known as Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) and they include replacements for known drugs like heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana. They are synthetic, made in a laboratory, and are much more potent than traditional drugs” —and all-too-often tragically lethal. Drugs like fentanyl, K2, and Spice—and those with arcane acronyms like 25i-NBOMe—were all originally conceived in legitimate laboratories for proper scientific and medicinal purposes. Their formulas were then hijacked and manufactured by rogue chemists, largely in China, who change their molecular structures to stay ahead of the law, making the drugs’ effects impossible to predict. Westhoff has infiltrated this shadowy world. He tracks down the little-known scientists who invented these drugs and inadvertently killed thousands, as well as a mysterious drug baron who turned the law upside down in his home country of New Zealand. Westhoff visits the shady factories in China from which these drugs emanate, providing startling and original reporting on how China’s vast chemical industry operates, and how the Chinese government subsidizes it. Poignantly, he chronicles the lives of addicted users and dealers, families of victims, law enforcement officers, and underground drug awareness organizers in the United States and Europe. Together they represent the shocking and riveting full anatomy of a calamity we are just beginning to understand. From its depths, as Westhoff relates, are emerging new strategies that may provide essential long-term solutions to the drug crisis that has affected so many. “Timely and agonizing. . . . An impressive work of investigative journalism.” —USA Today “Westhoff explores the many-tentacled world of illicit opioids, from the streets of East St. Louis to Chinese pharmaceutical companies, from music festivals deep in the Michigan woods to sanctioned ‘shooting up rooms’ in Barcelona, in this frank, insightful, and occasionally searing exposé. . . . Westhoff’s well-reported and researched work will likely open eyes, slow knee-jerk responses, and start much needed conversations.” —Publishers Weekly “Our 25 Favorite Books of 2019” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch “Best Books of 2019” —Buzzfeed “Best Nonfiction of 2019” —Kirkus Reviews “50 Best Books of 2019” —Daily Telegraph “Best Nonfiction Books of 2019” —Tyler Cowen “Best Books of 2019” —Yahoo Finance

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365

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Atlantic Monthly Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

080214795X

ISBN 13

9780802147950

Little Brother

Love, Tragedy, and My Search for the Truth

By: Ben Westhoff

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Little Brother

Love, Tragedy, and My Search for the Truth

By: Ben Westhoff

This intimate exploration of race and inequality in America tells the story of a journalist’s long-time relationship with his mentee, Jorell Cleveland, through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and investigates Jorell's tragic fatal shooting. In 2005, soon after Ben Westhoff moved to St. Louis, he joined the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and was paired with Jorell Cleveland. Ben was twenty-eight, a white college grad from an affluent family. Jorell was eight, one of nine children from a poor, African American family living in nearby Ferguson. But the two instantly connected. Ben and Jorell formed a bond stronger than nearly any other in their lives. When Ben met the woman who'd become his wife, she observed that Ben and Jorell were "a package deal." They were brothers. In the summer of 2016, Jorell was shot at point blank range in broad daylight in the middle of the street, yet no one was charged in his death. Ben grappled with mourning Jorell, but also with a feeling of responsibility. As Jorell’s mentor, what could he have done differently? As a journalist, he had reported on gang life, interviewed crime kingpins, and even infiltrated drug labs in China. But now, he was investigating the life and death of someone he knew personally and examining what he did and did not know about his friend. Learning the truth about Jorell and the man who killed him required Ben to uncover a heartbreaking cycle of poverty, poor education, drug trafficking, and violence. Little Brother brilliantly combines a deeply personal history with a true-crime narrative that exposes the realities of life in communities like Ferguson all around the country.

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354

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Hachette Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0306923165

ISBN 13

9780306923166

Original Gangstas

The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap

By: Ben Westhoff

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Original Gangstas

The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap

By: Ben Westhoff

Raw, authoritative, and unflinching ... An elaborately detailed, darkly surprising, definitive history of the LA gangsta rap era." -- Kirkus, starred review A monumental, revealing narrative history about the legendary group of artists at the forefront of West Coast hip-hop: Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, and Tupac Shakur. Amid rising gang violence, the crack epidemic, and police brutality, a group of unlikely voices cut through the chaos of late 1980s Los Angeles: N.W.A. Led by a drug dealer, a glammed-up producer, and a high school kid, N.W.A gave voice to disenfranchised African Americans across the country. And they quickly redefined pop culture across the world. Their names remain as popular as ever -- Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube. Dre soon joined forces with Suge Knight to create the combustible Death Row Records, which in turn transformed Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur into superstars. Ben Westhoff explores how this group of artists shifted the balance of hip-hop from New York to Los Angeles. He shows how N.W.A.'s shocking success lead to rivalries between members, record labels, and eventually a war between East Coast and West Coast factions. In the process, hip-hop burst into mainstream America at a time of immense social change, and became the most dominant musical movement of the last thirty years. At gangsta rap's peak, two of its biggest names -- Tupac and Biggie Smalls -- were murdered, leaving the surviving artists to forge peace before the genre annihilated itself. Featuring extensive investigative reporting, interviews with the principal players, and dozens of never-before-told stories, Original Gangstas is a groundbreaking addition to the history of popular music.

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432

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Hachette Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0316344869

ISBN 13

9780316344869

Fentanyl, Inc.

How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic

By: Ben Westhoff

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Fentanyl, Inc.

How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic

By: Ben Westhoff

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365

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Atlantic Monthly Press

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ISBN 10

080214795X

ISBN 13

9780802147950

Little Brother

Love, Tragedy, and My Search for the Truth

By: Ben Westhoff

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Little Brother

Love, Tragedy, and My Search for the Truth

By: Ben Westhoff

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354

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Hachette Books

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ISBN 10

0306923165

ISBN 13

9780306923166

Original Gangstas

The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap

By: Ben Westhoff

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Original Gangstas

The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap

By: Ben Westhoff

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432

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Hachette Books

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ISBN 10

0316344869

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9780316344869

Prisoners of the Castle

An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison

By: Ben Macintyre

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Prisoners of the Castle

An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison

By: Ben Macintyre

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “entertaining [and] often-moving account” (The Wall Street Journal) of the remarkable POWs whose relentlessly creative attempts to escape a notorious Nazi prison embodied the spirit of resistance against fascism, from the author of The Spy and the Traitor “Macintyre has a knack for finding the most fascinating story lines in history.”—David Grann, author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend. But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape. Its population represented a society in miniature, full of heroes and traitors, class conflicts and secret alliances, and the full range of human joy and despair. In Macintyre’s telling, Colditz’s most famous names—like the indomitable Pat Reid—share glory with lesser known but equally remarkable characters like Indian doctor Birendranath Mazumdar whose ill treatment, hunger strike, and eventual escape read like fiction; Florimond Duke, America’s oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; and Christopher Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture covert escape aids for POWs. Prisoners of the Castle traces the war’s arc from within Colditz’s stone walls, where the stakes rose as Hitler’s war machine faltered and the men feared that liberation would not come soon enough to spare them a grisly fate at the hands of the Nazis. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told.

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Page Count

417

Publisher

Crown

Published Date

ISBN 10

0593136357

ISBN 13

9780593136355

Rainer Maria Rike, 1893-1908: Poetry as Process - A Poetics of Becoming

By: Ben Hutchinson

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Rainer Maria Rike, 1893-1908: Poetry as Process - A Poetics of Becoming

By: Ben Hutchinson

Rainer Maria Rilkes' early verse is often seen as having little relevance to the great achievement of the middle years, the Neue Gedichte. Yet the very different styles of the juvenilia and this new maturity are united by a preoccupation with processes of motion and growth which governs both his life and work. In this meticulous philological study, Ben Hutchinson reassesses every level of Rilkes early poetry, from its motives and metaphors to its very grammar and syntax, in order to trace what he terms a poetics of becoming. With careful attention to rhythm, resonance and linguistic detail, he illuminates both the hidden patterns of the poetry and the artistic context of the fin-de-siecle. From its roots in the intellectual climate of the 1890s to the poems inspired by Rodin in 1908, Rilkes stylistic development is set against the surprising consistency with which he pursues this poetics of becoming.

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Page Count

391

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351196375

ISBN 13

9781351196376

Body Count's Body Count

By: Ben Apatoff

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Body Count's Body Count

By: Ben Apatoff

On Ice-T's 1991 classic O.G. Original Gangster, he introduced his all-Black hardcore band Body Count with lead guitarist Ernie C, bringing them on the first-ever Lollapalooza tour that summer. The next year, Body Count's self-titled debut album, rounded out by rhythm guitarist D-Roc the Executioner, bassist Mooseman, and drummer Beatmaster V, made them the most incendiary band in the world, confronting white supremacy and police brutality with pulverizing songs that shattered musical boundaries. Body Count's rage and shock humor sparked nationwide protests and boycotts, including death threats, censure from the federal government, a spot on the FBI National Threat list, and a denunciation by the President of the United States. The album was removed from stores and remains banned to this day, but decades later Body Count are performing to their biggest audiences and greatest acclaim, pulling off one of the most remarkable comebacks in punk or metal history. Drawn from years of research and dozens of new interviews, this is the story of a band of high school friends who revolutionized modern music, brought explosive live performances, and raised questions America's lawmakers didn't want to answer, overcoming some of the country's most powerful forces to reshape the world's cultural conversation.

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Page Count

185

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

1501389092

ISBN 13

9781501389092

Johann Ernst Gerhard (1621-1668)

The Life and Work of a Seventeenth-Century Orientalist

By: Asaph Ben-Tov

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Johann Ernst Gerhard (1621-1668)

The Life and Work of a Seventeenth-Century Orientalist

By: Asaph Ben-Tov

This biography of Johann Ernst Gerhard (1621-1668) studies of the richly documented life and work of a lesser-known seventeenth-century orientalist, setting them within the broader intellectual, confessional, and institutional contexts of his day.

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Page Count

263

Publisher

BRILL

Published Date

ISBN 10

9004466460

ISBN 13

9789004466463

Dirty South

Outkast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers who Reinvented Hip-hop

By: Ben Westhoff

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Dirty South

Outkast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers who Reinvented Hip-hop

By: Ben Westhoff

Author Ben Westhoff investigates the southern rap phenomenon, watching rappers ?make it rain? in a Houston strip club and partying with the 2 Live Crew?s Luke Campbell. Westhoff visits the gritty neighborhoods where T.I. and Lil Wayne grew up, kicks it with Big Boi in Atlanta, and speaks with artists like DJ Smurf and Ms. Peachez, dance-craze originators accused of setting back the black race fifty years. Acting both as investigative journalist and irreverent critic, Westhoff probes the celebrated-but-dark history of Houston label Rap-A-Lot Records, details the lethal rivalry between Atlanta MCs Gucci Mane and Young Jeezy, and gets venerable rapper Scarface to open up about his time in a mental institution. --Publisher.

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298

Published Date

ISBN 10

1569766061

ISBN 13

9781569766064

Original Gangstas

The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap

By: Ben Westhoff

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Original Gangstas

The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap

By: Ben Westhoff

A monumental, revealing narrative history about the legendary group of artists at the forefront of West Coast hip-hop: Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, and Tupac Shakur,"--Amazon.com.

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Page Count

422

Published Date

ISBN 10

031627268X

ISBN 13

9780316272681

Summary of the Hard Thing About Hard Things

By Ben Horowitz

By: Instaread Summaries

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Summary of the Hard Thing About Hard Things

By Ben Horowitz

By: Instaread Summaries

With InstaRead Summaries, you can get the essence of a book in 30 minutes or less. We read every chapter and summarize it in one or two paragraphs so you can get the information contained in the book at a faster rate. This is an InstaRead Summary of The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz. Below is a preview of the earlier sections of the summary: Introduction Ben explains that every time he reads a self-help or management book, he thinks about the fact that it didn't really address the hard things like laying people off or having good people start demanding unreasonable things. The problem with self-help books is that they try to provide a recipe for dealing with difficult, dynamic situations. Challenging situations can not be solved with a formula. Instead of using a formula in this book, the author presents his story as he progressed from an entrepreneur to CEO to venture capitalist. He shares some of the lessons he has learned along the way. He explains that although circumstances may differ, patterns and lessons resonate with each experience. For the last several years, he has shared lessons learned on his popular blog. Many people have emailed him to ask about the stories behind the lessons. Ben shares that he has been inspired along the way by many family members, friends, and advisers who have helped him. Hip-hop/rap music has also inspired him because these artists aspire to be both great and successful. He also admires that rappers see themselves as entrepreneurs.

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Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published Date

ISBN 10

1497443393

ISBN 13

9781497443396

Book's by Ben Westhoff

Fentanyl, Inc.

Fentanyl, Inc.

Little Brother

Little Brother

Original Gangstas

Original Gangstas

Fentanyl, Inc.

Fentanyl, Inc.

Little Brother

Little Brother

Original Gangstas

Original Gangstas

Prisoners of the Castle

Prisoners of the Castle

Rainer Maria Rike, 1893-1908: Poetry as Process - A Poetics of Becoming

Rainer Maria Rike, 1893-1908: Poetry as Process - A Poetics of Becoming

Body Count's Body Count

Body Count's Body Count

Johann Ernst Gerhard (1621-1668)

Johann Ernst Gerhard (1621-1668)

Dirty South

Dirty South

Original Gangstas

Original Gangstas

Summary of the Hard Thing About Hard Things

Summary of the Hard Thing About Hard Things

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