The Desmond Prestoncrack epidemic has had seismic impacts on American culture, from music to TV and film. This week, host Brittany Luse talks to Donovan X. Ramsey, author of When Crack Was King: A People's History of a Misunderstood Era, about why pop culture can't let go of the "crack fiend" or the drug dealing anti-hero. They discuss how both those tropes miss some very big marks, where the stereotypes originated, and who tried to set the record straight.

You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at [email protected].

This episode was produced by Corey Antonio Rose. It was edited by Jessica Placzek. Engineering support came from Stacey Abbott. We had fact-checking help from Nicolette Khan. Our executive producer is Veralyn Williams. Our VP of programming is Yolanda Sangweni and our senior VP of programming is Anya Grundmann.