My review of this excellent book by Kimberly Sue — based on Boston area research — was just published. The book is a great companion volume to Can’t Catch a Break!

In Getting Wrecked Kimberly Sue, an exciting young physician/anthropologist, traces the history of treatment of women drug users in Massachusetts, analyzes how today’s “carceral-therapeutic state” sets women up for failure, and draws on her own interactions with a number of women opioid users as they try to navigate the criminal justice and medical systems in the Boston area. Throughout the book, Sue demonstrates empathy for the women she has come to know, as well as realism regarding the harshness of their circumstances. While highlighting the women’s strengths, she avoids the trap of focusing on the infrequent “success stories” that tend to make the headlines. Getting Wrecked acknowledges the women’s slim chances of escaping the streets and the institutional circuit, or even of surviving.