Beth Macy (born c. 1964) is an American journalist and non-fiction writer. She is the author of five books including the four national bestsellers Factory Man (2014), Truevine (2016), Dopesick (2018) and Paper Girl (2025).
Early life
The daughter of a factory worker, Sarah Macy Slack, and a housepainter father, Macy grew up in Urbana, Ohio.
She was the first in her family to attend college, receiving a bachelor's degree in
journalism from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, in 1986.
In 1993, she earned a master's degree in
creative writing from Hollins University in Hollins, Virginia.
Career
Macy was a reporter for
The Roanoke Times in Roanoke, Virginia from 1989 to 2014.
She writes essays and
Op-ed, including for
The New York Times, in addition to writing for magazines. In 2010, she was awarded the Nieman Fellowship for Journalism by Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In 2023, she was named a Guggenheim Fellow for General Non-Fiction.
In June 2020, Macy was an executive producer and co-writer for an eight episode Hulu series based on her 2018 book, Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America. Dopesick tells the story of America's opioid crisis and the deadly role played by members of the Sackler family, the former owners of Purdue Pharma. The series was developed by Danny Strong and stars Michael Keaton.
In 2020, Macy wrote a follow up to Dopesick titled Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America's Overdose Crisis.
In her latest book, Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America, Macy returns to her hometown of Urbana, Ohio, to document the changes there resulting from globalization, addiction, and a divided America.
Awards
Macy won numerous national honors for reporting on race, immigrants and refugees, caregiving for the elderly, and teen pregnancy during her more than 20 years as a reporter at
The Roanoke Times. She has received an
Associated Press Managing Editors award,
the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism,
and an award from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.
Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local—and Helped Save an American Town received the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award in 2013.
Dopesick was shortlisted for the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.
In 2022, Macy and Danny Strong won the USC Scripter Award for an episode in the Dopesick Hulu series, "The People vs Purdue Pharma."
2026 U.S. House of Representatives campaign
On November 18, 2025, Macy announced her candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives in Virginia's 6th congressional district as a Democrat in the 2026 midterm elections.
Personal life
Macy lives in Roanoke, Virginia with her husband, Tom Landon. They have two adult children.
Works
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Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local—and Helped Save an American Town; (2014, Little Brown & Co.; ; )
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; (2016, Little, Brown & Co.; ; )
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; (2018, Little, Brown & Co.; ; )
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Finding Tess: A Mother's Search for Answers in a Dopesick America; (2019 Audible Original Audiobook; ASIN B07T2NSXHY)
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Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America's Overdose Crisis; (2022, Little Brown & Co.; ; )
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; (2025, Penguin Random House;
External links
