This is a compelling portrait of three communities devastated by drugs and isolation: East New York, North Philadelphia and the Red Hook housing projects in Brooklyn, New York. With a chilling and informative afterword by Dr Stephen W. Nicholas, a paediatric AIDS physician in Harlem, Cocaine True, Cocaine Blue reveals how initial efforts to address the drug trade have contributed to public denial and the further isolation of trapped communities. A story of our time, it is a harrowing document intended to educate and encourage dialogue.
 
“Eugene Richards's heart-rending photographic study of cocaine culture in three inner-city neighbourhoods shows the faces of some of addiction's victims. It provides a shocking, heartbreaking picture of the damage inflicted by the drug.” — Charles Hagen, The New York Times
 
“Eugene Richards's seventh book, Cocaine True, Cocaine Blue, reaffirms his position as the foremost chronicler of the dark side of American life: he is the true heir to the mantle of the legendary W. Eugene Smith.”