>> los angeles times has been putting on the festival of books for more than 20 years. it has become an institution that is part of the community. it is a way that we can celebrate with the readers of the people and as a city of the home. the very notion of reading. and today when the idea of there being something called fake news is out there, i think that books help us celebrate the way that words and facts are in storytelling and in history. >> whatever live coverage of the los angeles festival books all weekend april 22 and 23rd on booktv on c-span2. >> one of the reasons that i wanted to write this was because of so much attention paid to the opioid epidemic in

rural middle-class and upper right class communities. this gets a lot of attention almost exclusively.we can go to baltimore right now and losing harlan right now and find many people shooting upper using heroin for not white, that are not rural middle-class people. this is an epidemic that affects all income groups, all races, ages and demographics. and it is something that is largely left passed in the media. i think in part because it is easy for reporters, most reporters are white. i am white, and a report is begin from experience. in most newsrooms most reporters are white. i think they feel more comfortable going to wait neighborhoods to see white drug addicts. there might be controversial to say but it has been my

experience. i think if you so more people of color in newsrooms you would see this aspect of the epidemic more widely represented in the press. and i want to talk about . this is where many of the drugs ended up. they call it oxy alley. at first glance it was like any other street in west baltimore. -- but a close look at the rundown stretch of pennsylvania avenue review is more troubling, something more troubling. for nearly every vacant people are getting high. two such users keisha jones, 23 and terry, 21 are held up one of those roach infested homes. putting down a batch of liquid pills. one of the children sits in the

corner while the women friends since high school, speculate about the quality of the drawing there about to inject. going to be real nice keisha says. melting the oxycodone. while the other wits with a syringe. i just hope they are as good as the hollywood says one recently learned that she is six weeks pregnant with her first child. she hasn't seen the baby's father her ex-boyfriend, -- i have to make the most of it say because i can't mess with pills no more she says. -- they give brands that change every few weeks. at 16 hollywood, yellow cakes, mike tyson, black dominoes, red tails. in early may it was pinks, blue angels and dark nights and everyone wanted.

now it is beyoncc and -- that everyone is clamoring for. keisha like terry first began abusing pain pills early this month. securing them from --. in other megan's there are addicts just like them. people snorting and shooting opiates from dusk until dawn. many that got this before these pills came along. i write about a crew that was going to battle on drug corners and this was in baltimore. the concentration of drug abusers on the street are among the highest in the country. casualties of the ongoing wave of urban opioid addiction and associated violence ravaging american cities with little notice from wealthier enclaves. here outside of oxy alley,

these are beyond redemption says a baltimore homicide detective investigating a number of killings in the area. you come here for one for three reasons. to buy drugs, sell drugs or because you just don't care anymore and do not mind dying. the only other excuse they say is, you are a homicide or narcotics detective. >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. >> tonight we are delighted to have camille paglia here. i will do a more formal introduction than usual but -- camille paglia is a university professor of humanities and media studies at the university of the arts in philadelphia. where she has taught since 1984. she received her ba from the state university of new york at binghamton in 1968. her masters in philosophy and phd degrees from yale university.