The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistance of the Product That Defined America

by Allan M. Brandt

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465070477
• ISBN13: 9780465070473
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Basic Books (AZ)
• Length: 600 Pages
• Weight: 2.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Excellent, readable, and more widely applicable beyond tobacco

This is an excellent book, and not just about cigarettes. As evidence of the "persistence" part of the title, candy-flavored cigarettes have a clear target market ( So, 40+ years after "The Surgeon General has determined..." in 1964, this is still an issue. SG Luther Terry's political skillfulness in getting that report to happen added him to my list of heroes. This book is much more widely applicable, because it ably chronicles distortion and obfuscation of science by economic and political interests. Some kinds of scientific proof depend on long efforts to accumulate evidence, need good statistical analysis. Such are not amenable to simple lab experiments, and even when they are, may well not be ethical. ("Here: try this: we want to see if you get cancer" is properly not done.) Topics whose science is of this sort can be prone to long, drawn-out fights, especially when the scientific results threaten strong interests whose best approach is controversy and confusion. The conflicts over sulfates:acid rain and CFCs:ozone depletion resemble smoking:disease, but the clearest parallel with the latter is the battle over CO2: human-induced global warming. In both cases, there were: A) people who believed something (and sometimes exaggerated) well in advance of the science (anti-tobacco moralists, global warming alarmists), and sometimes irritated others by their stridency. B) people who had economic interests (tobacco companies, oil companies), who took very strong (but opposing) positions. These were sometimes joined by people with ideological reasons for minimizing government regulation. C) Scientists, who take years to collect good evidence, are careful in their conclusions, but who struggle to be heard though masses of disinformation generated by B), and sometimes wince at exaggerations from A), even as scientific results starts to approach A)'s views. In both cases, industry funded think-tanks, lobbyists, and a tiny handful of scientists to cast doubt on the science, using similar tactics, and often, employed by the same organizations and people. As a result Brandt's book is a dandy case study on the twisty interactions of science, economics, and politics, and its lessons may help us analyze other contentious issues as well.

One of the best books of the year

Allan Brandt's new book, "The Cigarette Century", is as comprehensive a study on one subject as I've seen in a long time. Written crisply and authoritatively, Brandt covers the tobacco industry from the end of the nineteenth century through today with cigarettes as his main focus. What he has researched, uncovered and passed onto the reader in an expansive (yet truly condensed) form is terrific. His book is a blockbuster. Cigarettes have been around for a long while in the United States but not until James Bonsack's rolling machine came into play in 1881 (churning out 200 cigarettes per minute) could they be distributed on a wide-scale basis. It wasn't until World War I, however, that the national demand for the product really took off, and did it ever! Brandt's book is a parallel study of American sociological history of the twentieth century as cigarettes have been at the center of so much of our cultural life. Women began smoking in earnest in the 1920s and Hollywood added its own weight with countless movie stars puffing away in countless films to remind the public of the "joys" of smoking. Advertisements abounded and cigarettes were here to stay. Along came the 1950s and things began to change. This is where Brandt's book really takes off as he begins to shape the "controversy" between the industry and those determined to warn Americans of the risks of smoking. The Surgeon General's report of 1964 declaring smoking to be hazardous to one's health (later packaging warnings reminded the smoker of the same) was a big first step as the public was beginning to question the safety of cigarettes. While more and more research on the dangers of cigarette smoking was made public, the tobacco companies fought tooth and nail to assure Americans that all was well. Lawsuits began to be filed on an increasing level yet the industry was always one step ahead of its detractors. Tobacco companies insisted that safety was a primary concern, but being "remarkably effective in resisting serious health initiatives", they were not. Brandt concludes "we now know a good deal about how this goal was achieved: a careful mixture of reassurance, half-truths, innovative public relations, disinformation, and deception." Calling their actions "the crime of the century", (the title of his epilogue) the author has, by this point, made a careful and compelling argument for that chapter's title. In my lifetime there have been three major social changes that I've noticed, one being that there are many fewer smokers today in the United States than when I was being raised. Yet, as Brandt points out, tobacco companies learned that if they can't sell as many cigarettes at home they'll export them...with no regard to the health of other nations' citizens. The industry seems to be winning again at the expense of those whose health fails after using their product, creating a pandemic just under the radar screen. I highly recommend Allan Brandt's "The Cigarette Century". It's an ey

a must-read

Picked this up after seeing the author on Book TV, and very glad I did. The (well-told) stories in here will enrage you--what dirty dealers the cigarette industry employs! I only wish that the book had included some of the stories about banning smoking in movies, which seems to be the hot new topic, at least in CA. (Though probably *too* new, even for a just-published book.) One of the best books I've read this year.

a meaty read, in a good way

Anyone who doubts the veracity of Brandt's title should revisit the local Piggly Wiggly -- Post, Maxwell House, Nabisco, Kraft, and Oscar Mayer are only a few of the trademarks currently owned by the parent company of Philip Morris. This is a much-needed and painstakingly researched book, and Brandt's credentials make him a highly qualified author. As other reviews have stated, if you're not changing your bologna's name to a four-letter word now, you will after reading a few chapters.

An absorbing read!

This is an engrossing, exhaustively researched, and very entertaining history of the culture, science, politics and law of the cigarette. While I knew that cigarettes were deadly, the persistence noted in the subtitle caught my eye. While I often think that "no one" smokes anymore, I was shocked to find out that over 400,000 Americans die from cigarettes each year! The figures about globalization and the massive death toll of cigarettes were even more astonishing and dismal. Brandt's examination of the promotional tactics employed by the industry was particularly interesting. It is easy to forget that the Marlboro Man is not a natural American icon, but the product of an aggressive and highly calculated advertising campaign. I was reminded, too, of the disproportionate number of cigarette and alcohol advertisements in the inner city of Chicago--Brandt's analysis of the industry's interest in racial and ethnic minorities put this in an unfortunate context. One can only hope that policymakers pay attention to Brandt's findings. (Be sure to read the epilogue for an interesting and timely mention of tobacco in current politics.) This book is a must-read for anyone interested in history, medicine, science, politics; in short, for anyone interested in understanding more about our past, present and future.