Journalist and bestselling author Beth Macy discusses the unraveling of rural America from the aftermath of globalization to the opioid crisis - the subject of her latest book Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America’s Overdose Crisis, as part of the new Masters at Marshall Distinguished Speaker Series on Thursday, February 22, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. at the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center. This event is sponsored by The Marshall Artists Series and The City of Huntington.

Macy is a Virginia-based journalist who writes about outsiders and underdogs. Raised poor in a small Ohio community, she is the award-winning author of three New York Times bestselling books examining rural communities left behind by corporate greed and political indifference. Her first book, Factory Man, explored the aftermath of globalization and won a J. Anthony Lukas Prize. Dopesick was short-listed for the Carnegie Medal, won the L.A. Times Book Prize for Science and Technology, and was described as a “masterwork of narrative nonfiction” by The New York Times.

Dopesick was made into a Peabody- and Emmy Award-winning Hulu series; Macy was an executive producer and cowriter on the show. Her 2022 book, Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America’s Overdose Crisis, was a follow-up to Dopesick and explored on-the-ground solutions to the nation’s drug epidemic.

A 2010 Nieman Fellow for Journalism at Harvard and a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow, Macy has also written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post. Her next book, Paper Girl, is a combination memoir and reported examination of the rural-urban divide told through the lenses of declining upward mobility, political polarization, and the decimation of local and regional news.

For tickets call the Marshall Artists Series at 304-696-6656 or visit ticketmaster.com.  You may also purchase tickets at the Marshall Artists Series box office located in the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center Monday – Friday 12p.m. – 4 p.m. 

Support the businesses that support the arts. The Marshall Artists Series is sponsored by Marshall Health Network, Encova, Cabell County Commission, West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, Farrell, White & Legg, WV Lottery, Natural Resource Partners, The Earleen Heiner Agee & Robert W. Agee Fund of the Foundation for the Tri-State, CJ Hughes, David & Kim Robinson, Steptoe & Johnson, Dutch Miller Kia, ZMM Architects, Summit Bank, The Chirico Family, City National Bank, Marshall Health, Radiology Inc., The Touma Foundation, Marshall Orthopedics, Huntington Federal, 21@ The Frederick, Air Systems, Inc., Baird, Boggs Roofing, Community Trust Bank, Cabell Huntington Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, Dr. David and Mrs. Sharon Denning, Gino’s Pizza, Dr. Christopher & Mrs. Tammy Hugh, La Famiglia, Marsha Slater State Farm Insurance, Neighborgall Construction, Dr. Stephen Nicholas, Reger Funeral Home, Rocco’s, Sammons-Adams Orthodontics WSAZ, iHeart Radio, The Herald-Dispatch, Bulldog Creative and Strictly Business.