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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistance of the Product That Defined Americaby Allan M. Brandt
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:The definitive history of the cigarette, the product that shaped twentieth-century America — from modern advertising to science, from regulatory politics to our sense of glamour and style. The industrial manufacture of cigarettes began in the late nineteenth century, but it wasn't until the invention of the modern consumer, advertising campaign — pioneered by cigarette brands — that the product really took off at the turn of the century. The cigarette became an indispensable accessory of glamour and sex appeal: from Marlene Dietrich to Humphrey Bogart to Anne Bancroft, we have imagined stars with cigarettes in their mouths, and imitated them. The cigarette — the ultimate icon of our consumer culture — serves as a vehicle for historian Allan Brandt to explore critical aspects of American life. From agriculture to big business, from medicine to politics, The Cigarette Century shows how smoking came to be so deeply implicated in our culture, science, policy, and law. In this magisterial book, Brandt demonstrates how the cigarette reflects the most powerful debates of our time about risk, responsibility, and human health. The Cigarette Century reaches across many disciplines to form a broad and compelling synthesis, showing how one humble (and largely useless) product came to play such a dominant role in our lives and deaths. Review:"Once so acceptable that even Emily Post approved, cigarette smoking is an integral part of American history and culture, as demonstrated in this highly readable, exhaustively researched book: the cigarette's 'remarkable success ... as well as its ignominious demise ... fundamentally demonstrates the historical interplay of culture, biology, and disease.' Brandt, Havard Medical School's Amalie Moses Kass Professor of the History of Medicine, explores the impact and meaning of cigarettes, from cultural, scientific, political and legal standpoints. Particularly fascinating (and shocking) is the scientific community's struggle to prove the harmful effects of smoking, even as scientists found, 'in 1946, that lung cancer cases had tripled over the previous three decades.' As any contemporary history of tobacco must, the narrative becomes a tale of the lies, deceit and eventual public exposure of Big Tobacco. But, the author warns, it's too soon for the ever-growing anti-smoking contingent to think they've beaten the industry: Big Tobacco is busy selling cigarettes to developing countries, threatening 'a global pandemic of tobacco-related diseases that is nothing short of colossal.' Though the industry can't be stopped, Brandt says, 'understanding the history of cigarettes may be a small but important element in ... knowing their dangers and having strategies for their control'; fortunately, this rigorous history has that first step covered." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"Recent years have seen a flurry of what might be called 'inanimate' biographies — that is, books devoted to the life of a thing rather than a person. Salt got one, cod, too, even some naughty words. While I admire the scholarship that goes into these studies, they tend to leave me a bit flat. I mean, it's the rare cod that battled the Boers alongside Winston Churchill or ate fried eggs off Ava Gardner's... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) Book News Annotation:This work by Brandt (history of medicine, Harvard Medical School) is
a cultural, scientific, political, and legal history of the American
cigarette industry in the 20th century. Treating each of these
aspects in relative isolation, Brandt describes the corporate
campaigns to build the cigarette market, the growing scientific
understanding of the links between tobacco and cancer, and political
and legal battles over cigarette marketing and the harms to public
health caused by cigarettes.
Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Review:"While my attention to smoking had flagged, historian Allan M. Brandt had remained vigilant from his vantage point at Harvard University....I figured I would never consume another thick tome about the tobacco history. I calculated incorrectly, and after reading Mr. Brandt's book, am pleased I did." Dallas Morning News Review:"Grist for an anti-smoking campaigner's mill, and testimony to the banality of evil." Kirkus Reviews Review:"Brandt reminds us that this battle is far from over, as Big Tobacco sets its sights on developing nations, threatening to create a deadly pandemic of global proportion." Booklist Synopsis:From agriculture to big business, from medicine to politics, "The Cigarette Century" is the definitive account of how smoking came to be so deeply implicated in our culture, science, policy, and law
Synopsis:The invention of mass marketing led to cigarettes being emblazoned in advertising and film, deeply tied to modern notions of glamour and sex appeal. It is hard to find a photo of Humphrey Bogart or Lauren Bacall without a cigarette. No product has been so heavily promoted or has become so deeply entrenched in American consciousness.And no product has received such sustained scientific scrutiny. The development of new medical knowledge demonstrating the dire harms of smoking ultimately shaped the evolution of evidence-based medicine. In response, the tobacco industry engineered a campaign of scientific disinformation seeking to delay, disrupt, and suppress these studies. Using a massive archive of previously secret documents, historian Allan Brandt shows how the industry pioneered these campaigns, particularly using special interest lobbying and largesse to elude regulation.But even as the cultural dominance of the cigarette has waned and consumption has fallen dramatically in the U.S., Big Tobacco remains securely positioned to expand into new global markets. The implications for the future are vast: 100 million people died of smoking-related diseases in the 20th century; in the next 100 years, we expect 1 billion deaths worldwide. About the AuthorAllan M. Brandt is Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Kass Professor of the History of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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