Tras El Grito - Johann Hari.epub Apr 2026

: Anslinger , who held deeply racist views and hated jazz, assigned a Black agent named Jimmy Fletcher to stalk her for two years to find a way to arrest her. Fletcher eventually found her using drugs, and she was sentenced to a year in prison.

The "war" didn't start with a focus on health, but rather with a specific target. In 1939, Billie Holiday stood on a stage in New York and sang a powerful protest song about lynchings in the South. Tras el grito - Johann Hari.epub

In his book Tras el grito (originally published as Chasing the Scream ), Johann Hari explores the history of the war on drugs through deeply human, often tragic stories. One of the most haunting and central narratives in the book is the systematic "hunting" of jazz legend by the man who launched the modern drug war, Harry Anslinger . The Story of Billie Holiday and Harry Anslinger : Anslinger , who held deeply racist views

: Holiday, who had suffered extreme childhood trauma (including being forced into prostitution at age ten) and used heroin to "stun her grief," refused to be silenced. In 1939, Billie Holiday stood on a stage

: A teenager in Mexico who became a prolific killer for the Zeta Cartel. His story shows how the illegal market turns desperate young people into "monsters" through a culture of terror.

: Even after her release, Anslinger continued to pursue her. When Holiday was eventually hospitalized, dying of liver and heart failure, Anslinger's agents handcuffed her to her hospital bed and arrested her for drug possession after allegedly planting heroin on her. She died while under arrest in that hospital bed at only 44 years old. Other Key Stories from Tras el grito