We live in an age of craving, from compulsive gaming and purchasing to binge eating and opioid abuse. Glucose is often as habit-forming as cocaine, researchers tell us, and social media marketing apps are hooking our kids. But what can we do to withstand temptations that insidiously and deliberately rewire our brains? Nothing at all, David Courtwright says, unless we understand the annals and character of the global companies that create and focus on our bad habits. The Age of Addiction chronicles the triumph of “limbic capitalism,” the growing network of competitive businesses concentrating on the brain pathways in charge of feeling, motivation, and long-term storage. We see its success in Steve Wynn’s groundbreaking casinos and Purdue Pharma’s discomfort pills, in McDonald’s built burgers and Tencent video gaming from China. All capitalize in the historic quest to find, cultivate, and refine brand-new and habituating pleasures. Courtwright keeps out hope that limbic capitalism could be included by structured opposition from over the political spectrum. Progressives, nationalists, and traditionalists been employed by together against the purveyors of habit before. They could repeat.