The Easy Way to Stop Smoking: Join the Millions Who Have Become Nonsmokers Using the Easyway Method

The Easy Way to Stop Smoking: Join the Millions Who Have Become Nonsmokers Using the Easyway Method
Average customer rating:

The only book I've seen on Amazon with no rating below four stars

IT WORKS!!!

This is a must buy!

IT Worked (for me)

I don't know how and I don't know why but...

The Easy Way to Stop Smoking: Join the Millions Who Have Become Nonsmokers Using the Easyway Method
Allen Carr
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Smoking | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Substance Abuse | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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Accessories:

Commit Lozenges , 4 mg, 72-Count (Mint)

LifeSign QuitKey Smoking Cessation Computer

NicoDerm CQ Step 1 Clear Patch, 21 mg, 2-Week Kit (14 patches)

ASIN: 1402718616

Book Description

A new edition of the revolutionary bestseller, with four million copies in print. Allen Carr’s innovative Easyway method—which he discovered after his own 100-cigarette-a-day habit nearly drove him to despair—has helped millions kick smoking without feeling anxious and deprived. That’s because he helps smokers discover the psychological reasons behind their dependency, explains in detail how to handle the withdrawal symptoms, shows them how to avoid situations when temptation might become too strong, and enables them to stay smoke-free. Carr discusses such issues as nicotine addiction; the social “brainwashing” that encourages smoking; the false belief that a cigarette relieves stress; the role boredom plays in sabotaging efforts to stop; and the main reasons for failure. With this proven program, smokers will be throwing away their packs for good.

Customer Reviews:

The only book I've seen on Amazon with no rating below four stars.......2007-10-08

Allen Carr knows your pain. He has walked the walk. This is the first completely sensible advice I have ever seriously taken to heart about how profoundly stupid it is to smoke, even casually (if there is such a thing--I now know there is not!) I've read the book over and over again and haven't touched or craved a cigarette since. The problem is that smokers are reluctant to read this book. They fear it. They won't touch it. It was sent to me by the publisher and it sat on my desk for months before I actually cracked it open. Then it took a few more months for me to read it. I wish I had received this book when I was in my twenties, rather than thirties. I could have saved myself a decade of smoking! Please buy this book. It will save your life.

IT WORKS!!!.......2007-10-07

I was a smoker for 10 years... at one point, I was smoking 2 packs a day. I came across this book and bought it, not with the intent to quit smoking, but out of curiousity. After reading reviews of people who said they read this book and quit smoking, I just wanted to know what this book said. This book opened my eyes to see smoking for what it is and made me see smoking as I had never seen or though of it before.. Let's just say this book works. After reading the book, I quit smoking.. I don't crave cigarettes and don't even think about smoking. Please, do yourself a favor and READ THIS BOOK!!!

This is a must buy!.......2007-10-05

This book turns your mind around and enables you to see cigarettes for what they really are.

They are not your friends and they really don't calm you down, help you to think straight or help you cope. They are merely a vehicle for a drug which is nicotine and smoking simply relieves your withdrawal symptoms.

This book was my first step in becoming a successful non-smoker.

You will not regret reading this book and this comes from someone who smoked for 30 years and had tried stopping numerous times. Please read if you are considering becoming nicotine free.

IT Worked (for me).......2007-10-04

Anyone who uses nicotine products would benefit from this book. I read the book and was able to quit (three weeks without a cigarette as of this writing). But more importantly, Allan Carr gives the reader some mind opening truths about smoking. Whether you quit smoking or not after reading the book, you'll see the truth in yourself about the nicotine.
So, I recommend the book. It was written twenty-some years ago, but the truth ages very well, indeed.
Now, honestly, the quitting wasn't "easy" for me, but I was able to stop smoking. I was a pack a day smoker for thirty some years, six or seven real attempts to quit. This time is different,I'm not miserable trying to sneak cigarettes. I'm not punching walls. The cravings are gone. I've never had this happen before. I'm really a non-smoker.
My intention was to come back to this review in six months and tell those interested if I was still a non-smoker, which I believe is a better review of the book.

I don't know how and I don't know why but..........2007-09-28

It worked for me too. I am EIGHT months "smober" this month and I don't miss the evil weed one bit. The first few weeks were a bit difficult but not nearly as difficult as pre-Allen Carr. I was a former pack a day smoker for at least 15 years and I too had tried everything else under the sun.

Just give it a try with an open mind. It is repetitive and it does tell you lots of stuff you already know. Don't worry about it. Just read it. Sometimes it seems silly. It doesn't matter. Just read it. Smoke to your hearts content while doing it, but read it.

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

Average customer rating:

An Ominous Precursor
death by smoking
Completely unbiased masterpiece! Five stars
Excellent, readable, and more widely applicable beyond tobacco
One of the best books of the year

The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America
Allan M. Brandt
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Company Profiles | Biography & History | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Smoking | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

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Public Health | Administration & Policy | Medicine | Subjects | Books

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Business & Investing | Blowout Books | Stores | Books

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Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris
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How Doctors Think

ASIN: 0465070477

Book Description

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.

Customer Reviews:

An Ominous Precursor.......2007-09-08

Given the size of the book, I was sure I was going to be perusing it only. However, the similarity to what I have seen with the wireless industry made me go back and read it in detail...disturbingly familiar detail. Read this to get a preview of its inevitable sequel...The Cell Phone Century.

death by smoking.......2007-08-19

This is the story of how smoking, once a socially acceptable, pleasurable behavior, became a disgusting habit for the smoker, a danger to non-smokers, a crime for cigarette makers and a financial windfall for some smokers, lawyers, and state governments. The book is well written, well documented and very readable but we know where the author stands. He tells us that 400,000 or 500,000 people are "killed" every year from smoking. Death by gunshot is instant and violent. This happens to about 30,000 people a year and no manufacturer is criminally responsible. Death by smoking can occur 20 to 45 years after smoking begins during which time the smoker could have abused his body in other ways but if not, aging and genetics contribute to death. Even though smokers choose cigarettes for pleasure with full knowledge of long term health consequences, the author concludes that abusive smoking that leads to disease is the criminal responsibility of tobacco companies.
A consequence of education, litigation, and the high cost of cigarettes is that fewer people smoke today. However, there has been a surge in obesity and obesity related health costs and shortened life spans. Mr. Brandt, if people are addicted to fatty foods and feed fatty foods to their children should Krispe Kreme and McDonalds be held criminally responsible as more and more people are diagnosed with diabetes and other diseases related to abusive eating? I wonder how many people are "killed" every year from abusive eating?

Completely unbiased masterpiece! Five stars.......2007-08-08

This book provided a completely unbiased look at this demon weed that has been plaguing this evil nation from its advent! Tobacco! This may seem strange to hear a liberal bashing a narcotic and crying for it to be made illegal, especially since they are so desperately pushing for legalization of marijuana, the products evil twin, but trust me it all makes sense when Mr. Brandt breaks it down for us.

Brandt begins with the first use of tobacco by our pilgrim ancestors. Brandt informs us that they got the Indians hooked on tobacco as kind of a way to enslave them and get land from them. They got them addicted so they would have to keep buying it.

How did America get those huge land grabs, like the Louisiana purchase, at such little money? They offered this deadly hallucinogenic tobacco weed to them and had them sign the papers under the influence!

They tried to get the hippies to smoke it, but the hippies had the very pure and healthy marijuana weed which made them smarter so they knew not to smoke it.

In short, I now realize that we have to, I mean it is imperative, that we get tobacco illegal and marijuana legal.

Excellent, readable, and more widely applicable beyond tobacco.......2007-06-20

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 ( <18 year-old). RJ Reynolds agreed in 2006 *not* to call them luscious names like "Twista Lime", "Mandarin Mint" ... but they can still *sell* them.

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.......2007-06-17

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 eye-opener, extremely well-written and well-paced, and will either give you a new angle at which to look at cigarettes or reinforce the thoughts you may have had already. I think it is one of the best books of the year.

Blue Thunder: How the Mafia Owned and Finally Murdered Cigarette Boat King Donald Aronow

Average customer rating:

Cigarette Boat King
Interested in Offshore Racing? Meet your idol, Mr Don Aronow
Excellent . . . A Must for the boater and mob afficionado!!!

Blue Thunder: How the Mafia Owned and Finally Murdered Cigarette Boat King Donald Aronow
Thomas Burdick , and Charlene Mitchell
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Criminology | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Murder & Mayhem | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0671663216

Customer Reviews:

Cigarette Boat King.......2007-07-19

I have really enjoyed this book. I like true stories, and am especially interested in speed boat racing, and stories about how the Mafia infiltrates businesses, and eventually takes them over! It certainly is an interesting read.

Interested in Offshore Racing? Meet your idol, Mr Don Aronow.......1998-07-16

If you have an interest in offshore racing, take the time and read this compelling book about the father of the the industry. Ever heard of Thunderboat row? Find out the impact he had on some of the largest manufacturers in the country, and their attempts to to keep him out of the boat building business. You will learn about the rise and murder of Don Aronow and how state law enforcement of Florida(at the time led by the infamous Janet Reno) either bungled the investigation, or for whatever reason, let his death go unsolved. You will learn of the allegation that Don Aronow had ties to the mob, South American drug smugglers, and to the DEA. At the end you can surmise what you will of what his life was about, but you can't take away what he meant to the sport of offshore racing. Read it and pay homage.

Excellent . . . A Must for the boater and mob afficionado!!!.......1997-03-17

This book has to be the best summary of politics, drug running, the offshore powerboat industry, the Mafia, crime, corruption and intrigue that I have ever read!! Aronow was an old friend of my family's in New Jersey and when he got murdered we all waited for the book to come out, sure enough it did and was excellent. If you love the mob, fast boats, fast cars, fast horses and beautiful women, BLUE THUNDER is a MUST READ!! Enjoy . . . . . H.L., Florida

Average customer rating:

Sixty Second Motivator
It Really Works!
The Sixty-Second Motivator- Book Review
Excellent read!!
The missing link!

The Sixty-Second Motivator
Jim Johnson
Manufacturer: Dog Ear Publishing, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Motivational | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1598581384

Book Description

Based entirely on research from peer-reviewed journals and randomized controlled trials, The Sixty-Second Motivator is an easily read story that reveals practical motivational techniques. In less than 100 pages, readers will have the necessary tools to enable them to motivate themselves or others. A handy worksheet is also included which guides the reader through the motivational process.

Customer Reviews:

Sixty Second Motivator.......2007-09-19

This is a great little book. It is written in a light style that makes it easy to read and digest the principles that Jim spells out. If you have ever tried to make a change and been unsuccessful in accomplishing your goal this little book will help you to understand why you failed and how you can increase your chance of success. I found it to be helpful both with my own personal goals and in better understanding what may help to motivate my clients to achieve their stated goals.

It Really Works!.......2007-08-08

Forget the motivational seminars, DVDs, and CDs. This little book has more insights into motivation than anything else I have seen! No hype here.

The author has taken complex concepts and made them easy to understand in an entertaining way. I use the practical tips not only to motivate my patients, but also to motivate myself!

The Sixty-Second Motivator- Book Review.......2007-06-12

Both my husband and I enjoyed this book a lot. We found it to be a neat, well organized little book written in an easy-to-understand, straight-forward style that is genuinely enjoyable while at the same time providing valuable insights about why we do or do not do things. While we found it quite analytical about key factors concerning motivation, the book didn't make us feel intimidated or "preached at". The tone of the book came across to us as friendly, low-key, very helpful, analytical and a valuable "keeper" to refer to in life's future situations.

Excellent read!!.......2007-03-08

This is an excellent read and one book you will finish reading. They say that most poeople don't finish books they buy, but this one is soo relevant to our lives that you will want to read it cover to cover several times! Keeping it in my day planner for a random quick read infusion throughout the day helps keep me on track!!

The missing link!.......2006-09-19

Having read Jim Johnson's No Beach No Zone weight loss book, I knew WHAT to do, plain and simple, and WHY it was important. So why wasn't I doing what the book laid out as a proven plan for weight loss? It's all about motivation. There's even a chapter on motivation in his weight loss book - but this book takes it one step further, into the science of motivation. Personally I think both books dovetail into one another well, especially if your lack of motivation happens to be in the field of losing weight. The science of how to lose weight permanently, and the science of motivating yourself to do anything. Once again, this is all based on research and not what one guy thinks.

One of the best surprises about this book is the way it is written. Without giving away too much, I can tell you that this book is more of a story than a collection of facts, and reads almost like a mystery. One thing's for sure, it's extremely engaging. I read the whole think in one sitting; the research and strategy don't take volumes to explain or lay out. I'm not one to read huge volumes, and Jim Johnson always makes a concise read devoid of medical mumbo-jumbo. The actual motivation chart takes up one page and really makes you think about what makes your own self "tick". The only excuse for not getting motivated is if you aren't willing to give up one hour of your time, and a little more time spent thinking straight.

Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris

Average customer rating:

Great history book
Wall Street Journal Reporter Narrates History of CIgarette Making
A History Lesson in Tobacco
Long, but good
Y'all said it: good but loooooong

Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris
Richard Kluger
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Economic History | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Industrial | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Customs & Traditions | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America
A Question of Intent: A Great American Battle With a Deadly Industry
Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization
The Cigarette Papers
Regulating Tobacco

ASIN: 0394570766
Release Date: 1996-04-14

Book Description

No book before this one has rendered the story of cigarettes -- mankind's most common self-destructive instrument and its most profitable consumer product -- with such sweep and enlivening detail.

Here for the first time, in a story full of the complexities and contradictions of human nature, all the strands of the historical process -- financial, social, psychological, medical, political, and legal -- are woven together in a riveting narrative. The key characters are the top corporate executives, public health investigators, and antismoking activists who have clashed ever more stridently as Americans debate whether smoking should be closely regulated as a major health menace.

We see tobacco spread rapidly from its aboriginal sources in the New World 500 years ago, as it becomes increasingly viewed by some as sinful and some as alluring, and by government as a windfall source of tax revenue. With the arrival of the cigarette in the late-nineteenth century, smoking changes from a luxury and occasional pastime to an everyday -- to some, indispensable -- habit, aided markedly by the exuberance of the tobacco huskers.

This free-enterprise success saga grows shadowed, from the middle of this century, as science begins to understand the cigarette's toxicity. Ironically the more detailed and persuasive the findings by medical investigators, the more cigarette makers prosper by seeming to modify their product with filters and reduced dosages of tar and nicotine.

We see the tobacco manufacturers come under intensifying assault as a rogue industry for knowingly and callously plying their hazardous wares while insisting that the health charges against them (a) remain unproven, and (b) are universally understood, so smokers indulge at their own risk.

Among the eye-opening disclosures here: outrageous pseudo-scientific claims made for cigarettes throughout the '30s and '40s, and the story of how the tobacco industry and the National Cancer Institute spent millions to develop a "safer" cigarette that was never brought to market.

Dealing with an emotional subject that has generated more heat than light, this book is a dispassionate tour de force that examines the nature of the companies' culpability, the complicity of society as a whole, and the shaky moral ground claimed by smokers who are now demanding recompense.

Customer Reviews:

Great history book.......2005-10-15

Just about every great society has one crop whose presence is intertwined throughout its history, effecting the history, culture, and economics of the nation. For China it would be rice, potatoes for Ireland, coca for Columbia, and most likely tobacco for America. This Pulitzer-Prize winning book shows how and why tobacco is so important to America's history. Specifically, the book traces and examines the economic role of tobacco and the economic policies of the tobacco companies (growers, traders, sellers, etc...) from the 1800s on through the 1990s.

Subjects that are covered in this tome include tobacco farming, the making of cigarettes, advertising in papers, radio, TV and billboards, lobbying of govt officials to reduce regulation, PR wars with health advocates, promotion of overseas sales, and of course, the court cases fought between Big Tobacco (RJR,Philip Morris, Brown & Williamson, etc...) and various consumers, consumer groups, government agencies, and governments. The book puts all of this together in a chronological history of tobacco with an emphasis on the role of big corporations like Philip Morris. The author has put this book together using a wide variety of sources both primary and secondary, including a lot of interviews with former and current employees at tobacco companies.

By reading this book, one learns a lot about various aspects of American law, culture, economics, and history. These include consumer relations, agro-business, medical research, lobbying, and advertising. OVerall, this is a great book, and I highly recommend it for anyone to read.

Wall Street Journal Reporter Narrates History of CIgarette Making.......2005-08-03

Well deserving of the Pulitzer Prize that it won, this book
tells the story of the growth of the industry - and the political
controversies about it - largely through the eyes of the main Tobacco Industry executives and lawyers. Beautifully written and
wittily objective, this is the best single place to start to understand this complex 20th century American phenomeon.

A History Lesson in Tobacco.......2002-10-21

I highly recommend Ashes to Ashes, by Richard Kluger, to anyone who wants to know more about the tobacco industry. Kluger provides a comprehensive history, beginning with the temperance of the tobacco leaf and the physical labor involved in producing marketable tobacco, and ending with the struggles the tobacco industry now faces with public health groups and government regulations. Kluger's narrative style makes this thick, fact packed book easy to read. Rich in history, critical, and thought provoking, Ashes to Ashes is a worthwhile read.

Long, but good.......2002-07-03

I'm not a smoker (fortunately my parents totally discouraged me from it, and I had enough smarts to avoid it anyway) but I found this history of the cigarette industry to be quite interesting--especially the facts about the early years.

It got a little dry towards the end, and the whole indictment of the industry has gotten a bit repetitious; I suspect at the time the book was published the message was new, but the message has gotten old fast. (Yes, it's clear that they knew about the health issues, and yes, they did very little about it.)

Overall it's a good read, especially the first half. If you're at all curious about how the cigarette industry came to be, the book does a great job of describing the companies and personalities involved.

Y'all said it: good but loooooong.......2001-09-28

Kluger's research is impressively thorough, his writing is lucid, and his insights -- well, insightful. But his inability to leave any detail unexamined makes this more of a resource book than a narrative. Slogging through to the end, became a chore. I mean, there ARE a few other books I'd like to get to before I die . . .

A Question of Intent: A Great American Battle With a Deadly Industry

Average customer rating:

An Educating and Entertaining Read
great expose of an evil industry
A Breath of Fresh Air
Civics lesson that reads like a thriller
A Govenment Policy Thriller

A Question of Intent: A Great American Battle With a Deadly Industry
David A. Kessler
Manufacturer: PublicAffairs
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Drug Dependency | Recovery | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

U.S. | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Federal Government | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Agricultural | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris
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ASIN: 1586481215
Release Date: 2002-03-19

Amazon.com

This is the David-and-Goliath story of how an American bureaucrat took on the tobacco industry--and helped topple it. David Kessler, head of the Food and Drug Administration for seven years under Presidents Bush and Clinton, earned the nickname "Eliot Knessler" from The Washington Post--a pun meant to evoke the memory of the Prohibition-era gangbuster--because he rejuvenated a moribund agency. The FDA regulated, in Kessler's words, "one quarter of every dollar Americans spent--from the food they eat to the drugs they take to the cosmetics they wear." Yet it lacked the courage to take on the country's most lethal product: cigarettes. So did Kessler, at least initially. He agreed with aides and others that Big Tobacco was too powerful a force in Washington, D.C. "The industry perceived threats everywhere, and responded to them ferociously," he writes. Moreover, challenging the industry would waste important resources that could have a more tangible benefit for consumers if they were spent elsewhere. Even before making the choice to go after cigarettes, Kessler was a figure of controversy, and this only intensified when he became one of the few Republican holdovers in the Clinton administration.

Much of the book deals with the routine business of the FDA: orange-juice seizures, a fight to restrict the sale of body tissues from foreign sources, how he responded to complaints that syringes were found in Pepsi cans, and so on. But the driving force behind Kessler's narrative is how he slowly woke up to the possibility of regulating cigarettes. "It is too easy to be swayed by the argument that tobacco is a legal product and should be treated like any other," he writes. "A product that kills people--when used as intended--is different. No one should be allowed to make a profit from that." His story is a lesson in Washington power politics--a game he played with naiveté when he started but was expert at by the end of his tenure.

To say Kessler and his team of FDA regulators "defeated" Big Tobacco is an overstatement: they were part of a broader effort that included trial lawyers, consumer groups, and crusading journalists, and the industry hasn't exactly gone away. But they were instrumental in forcing tobacco companies to admit that nicotine is addictive and cigarettes cause cancer, and in bringing about a sea change in the industry's legal and popular standing. Kessler now believes in regulation so tight it will strangle Big Tobacco forever: "If our goal is to halt this manmade epidemic," he writes, "the tobacco industry, as currently configured, needs to be dismantled." A Question of Intent is a well-told muckraker. It unfolds deliberately, like a good detective story. Admirers of Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action, especially those with a taste for public policy, won't be disappointed. --John J. Miller

Book Description

Now in paperback: former FDA commissioner David Kessler's non-fiction legal thriller about his agency's fight with Big Tobacco. Dubbed "Eliot Knessler" by The Washington Post, due to the way he resurrected a moribund government agency, FDA Commissioner David Kessler launched a carefully considered, thorough, and aggressive assault against the previously unassailable tobacco industry. His attempt to regulate tobacco as a drug was met with all of the industry's now notorious practices: legal stonewalling, manipulation of "bought" elected officials, intimidation, and outright lies. Kessler tackled all of these challenges with the vigor of a man perhaps outgunned but not outmaneuvered. At the height the FDA's legal battle, U.S. News and World Report called Kessler "somebody you can tell your children about" and compared him to the protagonists of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and To Kill a Mockingbird. Like those classic American stories, A Question of Intent is about the search for truth, the choices people make, and right and wrong. It is about moral courage.

Customer Reviews:

An Educating and Entertaining Read.......2007-04-25

David Kessler in A Question of Intent: A Great American Battle with a Deadly Industry provides readers with an entertaining and educating read that serves as a guide for organizations while showing an detailed view of bureaucracy, the media, and government organizations. He effectively displays the numerous benefits of affiliation between organizations and their leaders when trying to change the regulation over tobacco. Kessler also does a great job showing the role of a President and the effect he or she can have on organizations when they get to choose the leading personnel. Where Kessler falls short though is in providing a well organized story, free of excess personal narratives, and repetition. Do these errors tend to negate the quality of the book as a whole? No, but it makes me question his editor and the intentions he or she had in the scattered layout and whether included memoir aspects were entirely necessary.

By bringing the reader directly into the Food and Drug Administration's everyday happenings, Kessler is able to display the decision process of a government organization, while adding an element of suspense. His emphasizes the importance of connections and affiliation and teaches readers the scope and impact that lobbyists can have on the outcome of policies. He often describes that "too late" he realized that he had been "sandbagged by...lobbyists" and "overlooked [the] key tactical step" of lining up more support and connections (Kessler, 48). He shows that it was only through the support of his older staff and political connections that he was able to move forward in his fight for tobacco regulation.

The involvement of the reader in the processes Kessler and his team had to go through to get government attention on the regulation of tobacco could easily serve as a guide for other struggling organizations. He shows in detail how they used the media and were careful about their timing when making decisions. For instance, Kessler asked credible journalists to downplay stories to the New York Times to the extent that newspapers wouldn't even write about events such as the American Red Cross' bad blood supply. This manipulation of the media was useful to the organization by downplaying bad press and avoiding un-needed fear and panic. For other organizations who find themselves in the heat of the media, they might want to take notes from Kessler and his experiences

Another positive aspect of Kessler's book was his ability to show the vital role of the President. Most readers, like myself, would be surprised to learn that the President can have such a vital effect on issues such as food labeling. Kessler describes the difficulty and "maneuvering" it took to get amendments on the underage purchases of cigarettes on the Presidents desk (Kessler, 98). Once they got there, he describes how a Congressional hearing was crucial in how the media framed the issue - eventually leading to the impression the American public got on the topic. Overall, his book gives a great overview of what it takes to get an issue to the desk of the President, and how the steps taken after that can shape public opinion and determine the fate or success of a proposed amendment.

In the end, Kessler and his editor could have improved on the organization of the book. The subject of each 3-7 page chapter skips from topic to topic. It gets tedious when the reader has to continually shift his or her focus from tobacco to fresh food labels to the AIDS drug progression then back to tobacco - all with a little autobiographical information thrown into the mix. At the same time, Kessler consistently switches between using character's first and last names. One minute he's calling a successful reporter "Jim," like they're best friends, the next referring to him as "O'Hara" who had a "reputation among reporters for credibility" (Kessler, 92). The inconsistency is unnecessary and confusing.

Another detail that distracted from a smooth read from a trustworthy author, is his insistence on showing he "did not know" what he was doing, or that he "should have realized" that many of his decisions would have negative effects. Readers already understand no person is perfect, there is no reason to keep reminding them up to two or three times a page.

For readers who want an entertaining, yet educational read, Kessler's book provides both. While it does have its minor errors and editorial mishaps, his ability to produce a book that readers like a thriller yet explains the inner-workings of bureaucracy in a simple-to-understand way is uncanny. Lessons can be learned by regular readers seeking more information on a much debated topic - the regulation of tobacco - or big organizations looking to revitalize their strategies to achieve greater success in their goals.

great expose of an evil industry.......2005-10-01

America, for all its faults, is the battlefield on which many of the world's most important health questions are being fought. None of those is more important than the questions this excellent book addresses. Is nicotine a narcotic? Are America's major cigarette companies, collectively known as Big Tobacco, deliberately turning their customers into nicotine addicts?

They were the key questions David Kessler tackled when he was Commissioner of America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 1990 to 1997. Kessler, who is now Dean of the Yale University Law School, fought a tenacious battle with Big Tobacco and its powerful allies on Capitol Hill during those years. The battle was so tough and Big Tobacco so ruthless that Kessler and his small team were often compared to Elliot Ness and his small band of Untouchables who slugged it out with Al Capone's army of gangsters and corrupt politicians during the Prohibition years.

Certainly, the tenacity of Big Tobacco in the face of overwhelming evidence that damns its product can only remind the reader of Al Capone and America's Organized Crime, whose sole god is ill gotten money. Big Tobacco practiced, for example, the code of Omerta and, if Kessler is to be believed, former employees who gave evidence against them lived in fear of their lives. Big Tobacco had armies of lawyers and US Congressmen in their corporate pockets. All they seemed short of was organizing the gangland-style hits that were Capone's specialty.

Indeed, the specters of Ness and Capone are never too far away. Kessler hired special investigators trained by America's elite combat forces to interrogate witnesses. One member of Kessler's squad trawled all of America's seaports to uncover key evidence that Big Tobacco had illegally imported genetically modified tobacco into the United States. The book is, in many ways, a classic detective story needing only Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Cagney, Tom Hanks or some other celluloid figure to bring it to life. It races along from the very first page to the final denouement.

Big Tobacco's four-pronged counter-strategy against the FDA is also equally fast-paced. Working with military precision, it used, as page 169 tells us, frontal assaults, surgical strikes, allied attacks and air cover to overwhelm the offices and efforts of Kessler and his team. Like Organized Crime, Big Tobacco knew what side its bread was buttered on. Like Organized Crime, Big Tobacco's bosses proved themselves to be ruthless and cynical competitors with pitiless cash registers for hearts. Their proud boast was that they had more money than God.

Their vast war chests poisoned public debate in America for many years just as their product continues to poison the bodies of their fellow Americans. As well as the armies of hired lawyers who were central to their strategy, they employed mercenary academics to rubber-stamp their products with a scientific sheen of respectability. The aura of scientific impartiality these academics bartered away helped Big Tobacco's bosses accumulate their almost limitless wealth, buy their way into Capitol Hill and jam the world's hospital cancer wards full with cigarette smokers. Although Kessler names some of these contemptible researchers, he goes much further. By exposing their mercenary motives, he discredits them and Big Tobacco, which paid them their ultimately puny pieces of silver.

The book, despite its topicality, starts off with a quote from the Odes of Horace, which tells us that "The guilty have a head start, and retribution is always slow of start, but it catches up." Fortunately, the net is finally beginning to close in on Big Tobacco and its tainted allies. Thanks to people like Kessler and his team of Untouchables, the nicotine debate is starting to be aired out into the open.

Sometimes, of course, the cure is worse than the disease. Kessler's comments about nicotine nasal sprays should be enough to make anyone feel pity for the nicotine abuser and disgust at the companies which can conceive, let alone peddle such an obnoxious product.

No sympathy whatsoever can be spared for Kessler's villains. Though bloodied, Big Tobacco is far from bowed. It continues to ensnare American schoolchildren with its product and to export its deadly product to the four ends of the earth. Despite Big Tobacco's enviable revenues, its feet of clay and the tissues of lies it surrounds itself with have both been well exposed by this great book, which President Jimmy Carter and a host of other luminaries endorse. The hope must now be, as Kessler puts it, that Big Tobacco will eventually be drummed out of business altogether. Their demise would not only make the air we breathe cleaner. It would also help clean up the corridors of power, which Big Tobacco so thoroughly infected with its own insatiable addiction to the profit motive.

A Breath of Fresh Air.......2004-03-25

Thank you, Dr. Kessler, for pursuing the tobacco dragon and for writing this book. It should be required reading for every medical and divinity school student.

Civics lesson that reads like a thriller.......2002-08-05

Wow. Who would have thought a book on the history of the FDA's handling of tobacco regulation would read like a spy novel? I grabbed this book off the new books shelf at the library, and picked it up expecting to skim through it. Kessler begins with how he was chosen to head the FDA, and introduces several of his staff including the one who started him toward taking on the tobacco industry. Then we get plenty of background including the history, marketing, and laws concerning tobacco.

With all the press on Big Tobacco, I expected them to be shown as fiendish. I've been a member of Americans for Non-Smokers Rights for 20 years, and I've read all about the Industry's dirty tricks, and I fully expected to read about them again here. What I didn't expect to find was the thoroughness in Big Tobacco attempted to discredit the FDA, and Kessler takes us through the political campaigns and counter-campaigns. He shows how Big Tobacco created fake advocacy groups on several issues, leading to their attempt to muzzle the FDA and cut off all their government funding. If you remember the '94 Contract with America and the movement against Big Government, you'll be surprised to find how Big Tobacco co-opted it to fight the FDA, one of the more admired agencies.

If you weren't already cynical about how the US government operates, this book will get you there, even with its descriptions of some of the good guys continually outmaneuvered by the bad ones. Several congress members are shown to be captives of Big Tobacco, doing their dirty work with scripts written by their lobbyists and lawyers.

And speaking of lawyers, one of the most amazing revelations to me ok is how the tobacco industry became captives of their law firms! Yes, instead of working for their clients, the law firms ended up calling all the shots, and the CEOs would read statements prepared by them. The book covers how this came to be.

If you love looking of source material, you'll be busy. Kessler leaves plenty of footnotes in this meaty book for your review. My only complaint is that the book jumps around in places, as the story moves forward or back depending on the topic being covered. But this is a small beef, as the material is so compelling. Find out not only how cigarette's nicotine content was manipulated but how the industry tried to hide this obvious fact from FDA visitors to their manufacturing facilities. Enjoy the victories and despair over the setbacks; this is a policy-wonk's book as written by a Tom Clancy wanna-be.

A Govenment Policy Thriller.......2002-06-24

This is an excellent book. Kessler's story reads like a thriller, but is non-fiction. In addition to the fascinating narrative, Kessler provides along the way many insights into how Washington REALLY works. The most disheartening thing about the book is the extent to which Kessler documents how our political culture is awash with tobacco money; the tentacles of the tobacco companies seemingly reach everywhere. Kessler reveals that many "think tanks" and other public policy mouthpieces--even senators--have been bought by big tobacco and are literally reading from scripts the companies have provided trying to shift tobacco issues into ideological issues involving freedom and democracy. Unfortunately, the tobacco companies usually win with such strategies. Kessler is quite non-partisan in his approach to his topic, so politicians are judged purely by their stance on tobacco. Clinton comes out as wishy-washy, Gore as rock solid, while Dennis Hastert, Newt Gingrich and assorted others come out as shills for big tobacco. A very enlightening and enjoyable book; it will make you yearn for true campaign finance reform.

American Lung Association 7 Steps to a Smoke-Free Life

Average customer rating:

Pleased, but could use some more motivation.
Even you can quit too!!!
Stay Smoke Free!!!
It has been now 9 years!
I was able to quit! This was my Bible during the Storm.

American Lung Association 7 Steps to a Smoke-Free Life
Edwin B. Fisher
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0471247006

Amazon.com

One thousand Americans die each day from the effects of smoking. There are 45 to 50 million nicotine addicts in the United States alone, and most would like to quit. If you are one of them, this book is your guide. Based on the American Lung Association's Freedom from Smoking program, it acknowledges that each smoker is different and requires different strategies. You identify the places, times, moods, and conditions that trigger your need to smoke. Then you learn many techniques that you can choose from and adapt to fit your personal needs, lifestyle, and smoking habit. 7 Steps to a Smoke-Free Life leads you through this process: 1. Understand Your Habit and Addiction.
2. Build Your Motivation to Quit.
3. Develop Your Quitting Plan.
4. Prepare for Your Quit Day.
5. Quit.
6. Fighting Temptations--the First Two Weeks.
7. Staying Focused--the First Six Months.

The book is organized interactively, presenting information that will help you understand your habit and break it, worksheets, and checklists that you fill out to personalize your plan, and frequent "quick quit tips" of suggestions and motivation. Even if you've tried unsuccessfully to quit before, this book will prove full of useful tips to help you become an ex-smoker. --Joan Price

Book Description

A proven plan for kicking the habit from the nation's leading lung organization

"If you are one of the millions of smokers who needs help in becoming a nonsmoker, the American Lung Association 7 Steps to a Smoke-Free Life can be a real life-saver." âfrom the Foreword by C. Everett Koop.

The American Lung Association's award-winning Freedom From Smoking(r) program has helped hundreds of thousands of smokers quit. Now it can help you.

Without lectures, without gimmicksâand without compromiseâthis straightforward, sympathetic book carefully guides you through the seven steps that will lead to a longer, healthier life. You'll begin by going directly to the source of your addiction: identifying what triggers your own smoking habit. Armed with that knowledge, you'll prepare for quitting day and finally, firmly set yourself on the road to a life free of cigarettes forever.

With great Quick Quit Tips throughout, 7 Steps to a Smoke-Free Life provides the guidance and support you need to cope with cravings, manage stress, keep off extra weight, avoid setbacks, and, above all, stick with it. Let the nation's leading authorities help you kick the habit comfortably, safelyâand permanently.

Customer Reviews:

Pleased, but could use some more motivation........2007-02-01

I liked the book, but found some of it boring.

Even you can quit too!!!.......2002-08-27

This book helped me realize that I too can quit, and for good!!! It carefully explains statistics, effects and mortality rates, be it gender or age. Each step is very clear and very easy to follow. The Pack Track, notes and defense mechanisms that are given to you in this book will help anyone kick the butts for good!!! Very easy reading and easy on the eyes. Step by step until you are smoke free is the success that comes with this book. Mr. Fisher and Mr. Koop did an outstanding job on this book. The alternatives and attitude changing methods toward smoking are simply superb. Realizations are met on all sides of quitting in this book. From the ones who have quit numerous times to the struggle of relaspes. This book has it all covered. Hypnosis, gum, patches, fading, or whatever method exists, is clearly explained and can be tailored to suit anyone's need on any level!!!

Stay Smoke Free!!!.......2001-09-07

I found this book to be full of helpful ideas to keep you or a loved one off tabacco. It takes you through pre-quiting with great ideas to help you prepare, all the way through to staying smoke free forever. I have been very greatful for this book and recommend it to everyone!

It has been now 9 years!.......2001-01-21

I got a note from an amazon customer, congratulating me on my quitting. For all the ones that will be cosidering this book now and feel it is impossible to quit, I strongly reccomend it and its methodology. I myself, after seeing my father quit smoking when he had his third heart surgery and my mother after her eye surgeries, thought I would not be able to do it. However, today is June 6 2007 and since Dec 20 1998 I have been smoke free. Should you know someone who needs help to quit smoking, I am willing to be part of the network support.

I was able to quit! This was my Bible during the Storm........1999-02-05

Very simple and easy to read guide. Up to date with lots of reccomendations that help. I was a pack and a half a day smoker. I smoked for 17 years. Feel free to contact me should you need support to help you quit. I am buying copies for my friends.

Average customer rating:

This book is a miracle
I feel like I never smoked.
If you want to quit you will.
a 10 out of 5 stars
It works...if you're ready!

The Easy Way to Stop Smoking
Allen Carr
Manufacturer: Sterling Pub Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 1402736592

Product Description

This new edition of a revolutionary bestseller helps you use the Easyway method to eliminate the psychological reasons for smoking, handle withdrawal symptoms, avoid temptation situations, and stay a non-smoker! Discovered by Allen Carr in 1983 after his 100-cigarettes-a-day drove him to despair, this method is widely used around the world -- having helped millions of smokers quit successfully. Now you, too, can enjoy the freedoms of being a non-smoker!

Customer Reviews:

This book is a miracle.......2007-10-02

My sister stop smoking with this book after many years of trying and given this book to all my friends and family to stop smoking.
Is worth every penny!
Probably the best thing you can do for you !

I feel like I never smoked........2007-08-22

I smoked 1-2 packs a day for seven years. I started trying to quit six months after I had my first cigarette. I tried the patch, wellbutrin, smoke away, self-hypnosis, cutting down and cold turkey. Nothing worked. I had to read the book three times but the third time when I finished the book and put out my final cigarette, I became a non-smoker that instant. No cravings, no withdrawls, no weight gain. It's been over a year and I feel like I never smoked. It seems like it must have been another person. I have no desire to ever smoke again.

If you want to quit you will........2007-08-19

I purchased Allen Carr's book as a last ditch effort. I thought what do I have to lose I've tried every thing else. By the time I finished the book I was totally ready. I can still remember the feeling of having a tremendous weight being lifted from me as I put out my last cigarette forever. My husband quit after I did, he also read the book. It's been 7 months and not one relapse. We now save our cigarette money every day and go on getaway trips with the money we save.

a 10 out of 5 stars.......2007-06-09

this book is not a dream, it works. I havent smoked in half a year. I still work in a bar, and i am a non smoker, very nice book.

It works...if you're ready!.......2007-05-17

I was a pack a day (plus a few more) smoker for over 18 years, and I had tried to quit a number of times - I used inhalers, nicorette, toothpicks, etc. When I saw this book at the bookstore, I figured, "Hey, let's give it a shot." I threw away half a pack the night I finished this book (January 7, 2007) and haven't had one since. But I have had cravings - it hasn't been as easy as the back cover promises :) But by and large, this book changed / saved my life. I'd also recommend, "Out of the Ashes" - that book is great for STAYING smoke free! Good luck!

Soap, Sex, and Cigarettes: A Cultural History of American Advertising

Average customer rating:

Neither History nor Cultural History
Look at yourself
Great reference, name is a bit of a misnomer, though...
Average Reference Book
Not just for the classroom!

Soap, Sex, and Cigarettes: A Cultural History of American Advertising
Juliann Sivulka
Manufacturer: Wadsworth Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

This book is an examination of how American advertising both mirrors society and creates it. From the first newspaper advertisement in colonial times to the latest Web sites for advertising agencies, Soap, Sex and Cigarettes explores how advertising grew in America, how products and brands were produced and promoted, and how advertisements and agencies reflect and introduce cultural trends and issues. The threads of art, industry, culture, and technology unify the work. The text is chronological in its organization and is lavishly illustrated with advertisements.

Customer Reviews:

Neither History nor Cultural History.......2002-07-26

The Sivulkas' work is a rather long narrative of American advertising -- with very little to offer beyond reproductions of some rather commonplace ads from the last two hundred years. Much of the information they offer seems to come from other sources, and there is no real bibliography to the book. It is most misleadingly titled "cultural history" since there is so very little to the book beyond a chronology, and that is full of mistakes, over-simplifications, and such bland statements that there is nothing to be learned from this book. Others have written much better and more meaningful things about the history of advertising, and charged less than [$$] for it.

Look at yourself.......2002-03-23

If you want to understand American culture you can see how advertising has taken what is already in the culture and made it an industry to sell dreams...and of course the products these dreams represent.

As someone who teaches advertising concepts I found this book a very good intro to understanding advertising and having students see how it is not separate from the culture.

Written in a very readable style, I recco the book to anyone teaching advertising to creatives or to anyone interested in American culture.

Great reference, name is a bit of a misnomer, though..........2001-06-22

Advertising has been around since the dawn of civilization. The ancient Greeks created signs for their theatres and any open-air market of any ancient culture shows evidence of signage advertising different wares. With the invention of the printing press and movable type, however, the age of information and advertising truly began.

The history of American advertising is as packed with dates, places, people and events as any other slice of American history, and in "Soap, Sex and Cigarettes" Juliann Sivulka has done an exhaustive job of outlining these very things. With chapters going from 1492-1800, beginning with the colonization of the States, through the Roaring 20's and ending with "1990s and Beyond: The Media Revolution", this book should be required reading for any marketing/advertising undergrad. Indeed, considering the density of the material-- as thorough as any text on the Revolutionary War-- I imagine it IS required collegiate reading for students entering these professions.

The book is packed with various illustrations of real ads from the time periods, and one could easily get an overview of American advertising by simply leafing through the pages and looking at the ads and how they evolve from a 1608 London woodcut pamphlet advertising the New World ("Excellent fruites by Planting in Virginia") to the modern "Just Do It" and "Got Milk?" high glossy ad campaigns. The text is ordered and well written and can be read both as collegiate material and as casual reading (though there are a LOT of dates, places, times and events for the casual reader). The author frequently includes common ad slogans throughout the book that have become staples of American advertising: "His masters voice", "I'd walk a mile for a Camel", "Remember: only YOU can prevent forest fires" and "melts in your mouth, not in your hand" to name just a VERY few. There are also brief timelines of some of the highlights of product inventions that advertising impacted, such as Twinkies introduction in 1930 (originally filled with banana creme), pet rocks in 1975 and the new age of advertising begun in 1989 by Nissan's Infiniti where the actual product was never shown.

The book is subtitled "A Cultural History of American Advertising", but it is here where it falls short. It's an excellent resource for the history of advertising, but it's not so great at demonstrating how advertising has influenced our society. There are short parts demonstrating the stereotype of people of color and women, for example African-American people portrayed as grinning Sambos who are thrilled to ecstasy that Gold Dust washing powder makes your pots n' pans sparkle; Asian people with long pigtails and coolie hats in outlandish dress; women typically in household roles advertising everything from soap to washing machines (while trying to appear sexy at the same time: "You'd think I'm a flapper, but I CAN keep house"-- S.O.S. Pads, 1927). However, this aspect is not nearly as well fleshed-out as I would have expected from the title. I was expecting something more along the lines of cultural anthropology or Noam Chomsky-- explaining how advertising not only reflected society but INFLUENCED it-- and found little to be had.

No one would argue the fact that sex and celebrity status are constantly being used to sell everything from cars to toothpaste, and the unspoken meaning of most ads is something like "Drink Figgy-Fiz Cola and you'll have to beat the beautiful babes away with a lug wrench!" Most people ignore advertisements or complain about them and generally pay little or no attention to them at all. Still, the amount of advertising is only INCREASING as time goes on and the ads do influence our culture substantially. Should you doubt me, ask yourself why were children murdering other children for Nike shoes during the late 80's? No one was attacking me for my black Keds, and God help you if you wore Buster Browns after the age of 4. Why? Because the ads told us there were certain products to value above others (and therefore we could justify paying 120% more for those products as well) and we believed them. THIS sort of "cultural history" and analysis was missing from this book, which is a shame because Ms. Sivulka could have shed quite a lot of light onto this still-dark corner of our society. Perhaps she didn't because the more we know about advertising and how it works, the less power it holds over us.

In closing, "Soap, Sex and Cigarettes" is a great resource both for the professional marketer/advertiser and a fascinating read for the casual thinker of pop/modern culture. It's a bit expensive (though college texts always are), but it's exhaustively researched and very well written. Highly recommended!

Average Reference Book.......2001-02-02

While this book has quite a bit of useful history, it is not meant to be read cover to cover. It works in a very straightforward format providing a mostly chronological laundry list of advertisers and advertising agencies. The book lacks an in-depth analysis of the relationship between advertising and American culture as its subtitle seems to suggest. The sections on minority and web-based advertising are woefully out of date and simplistic. However, the book has some great ad illustrations and there are several supplementary list which are quite interesting. Basically, it's a decent reference book, but not for anyone looking for an interesting take on the history of American advertising.

Not just for the classroom!.......1998-01-12

When I ordered this book, I thought it might be just another text book, however, Ms. Sivulka is a skillful writer worth reading at any level. Her subject matter is interesting, obviously carefully selected and well-coordinated. The illustrations are entertaining and pertinent. It's a fun read with lots of know-how apparent.

Cigarettes and Peppermint: A Life in Verse

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Cigarettes and Peppermint: A Life in Verse
Catherine Hamilton Shaw
Manufacturer: PublishAmerica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1424168791
Release Date: 2007-03-26

Book Description

Catherine graduated with Bachelor's degrees in English and Psychology, and subsequently earned a Master's in Clinical Psychology. Currently, residing on Virginia's Eastern Shore, she teaches English and serves as an activist for domestic violence and sexual assault. Catherine blends her educational and professional work of both writing and advocacy in Cigarettes and Peppermint. This poetic collection contains over 300 intimate glimpses into a woman's emotional transcendence through life and the trauma of familial death, abusive relationships, miscarriage, and Alzheimer's. This story evidences the essence of humanity as detailed in a variety of poetic forms, including the ode, monody, haiku, and ballad, and continuous flow of figurative language, including personification, metonymy, allusions, and metaphors.

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