Book of the week: Empire of Pain

Patrick Radden Keefe examines the dynasty behind the opioid crisis

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Rudyard Kipling has always been controversial – even in his day, his imperialism was considered extreme – but “no one has ever disagreed about his Just So Stories”, said Janet Montefiore in the Times Literary Supplement. Ever since they were first published in 1902, the 13 tales explaining how the leopard got his spots, the elephant his trunk and the rhinoceros his saggy skin – have “enchanted readers and listeners”.

Now, “in this origin story of origin stories”, John Batchelor provides a fascinating account of how the tales came into being, said Kathryn Hughes in The Guardian. Kipling originally conceived them as “bedtime performances for his eldest child, Josephine” – who, like many small listeners, wanted things “just so”, and would object if her father changed a word.

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