Tobacco

In recent years, whistleblowers and lawsuits have brought to light a mountain of evidence---over 40 million pages---leading to one devastating, inescapable conclusion: not just that smoking is unquestionably dangerous, but that Big Tobacco has known this for decades and tried to keep their customers in the dark about it. With calls for greater government regulation of tobacco culminating in the historic June 2009 passage of federal antismoking legislation, Tobacco could not be more timely. It is the most authoritative and accessible volume available covering the evolution of tobacco consumption as well as efforrs to protect consumers from its dangers.

Tobacco focuses on five key issues: tobacco excise taxation and health policy; the often misleading advertising of cigarettes and "low tar/nicotine" alternatives; the role of the Food and Drug Administration in regulating tobacco; education and prevention efforts aimed at children and teens; and environmental tobacco health risks, including second hand smoke. It is an eye-opening introduction to the entire history of efforts to regulate tobacco---from its beginnings in the Progressive Era of the early 20th century to recent efforts to uncover suppressed medical reports, ban smoking ads, and get smoking out of the movies.

Arlene Hirschfelder, historian and educator, has been writing about tobacco for almost 20 years.