Golden Holocaust

Starred review from April 15, 2012

Proctor (history of science, Stanford Univ.; Cancer Wars: How Politics Shapes What We Know & Don't Know About Cancer) indicts the tobacco industry--often citing its own documents--for mass murder on a global scale. Cigarette use, he demonstrates, exploded in the early 20th century after safety matches, flue-cured tobacco, and mechanized production became widespread. Cigarettes were suddenly cheap and convenient, and lung cancers, formerly rare, became increasingly common as the first generations of smokers aged. To keep profits flowing, the industry exploited loopholes in scientific studies and laws restricting tobacco use. It spent lavishly on political influence and academic "experts" who defended the industry in spite of the approximately 100 million deaths attributable to cigarettes in the 20th century. With seven trillion cigarettes still smoked each year worldwide, Proctor posits numerous ways to reduce nicotine addiction. VERDICT This book expands Allan M. Brandt's The Cigarette Century and Richard Kluger's Ashes to Ashes with a global view of the havoc wrought by the cigarette industry. With exhaustive research and an accessible style, Proctor makes a damning case, thought-provoking for both scholars and serious general readers.--Kathy Arsenault, St. Petersburg, FL

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