Research Catalog

Title

For your own good : the anti-smoking crusade and the tyranny of public health / Jacob Sullum.

Author

Sullum, Jacob.

Publication

New York : Free Press, [1998], ©1998.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xiv, 338 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

• The tobacco controversy is usually portrayed as a battle between selfless defenders of public health and greedy merchants of death. In For Your Own Good, journalist Jacob Sullum argues that such a view conceals the true nature of the crusade for a smoke-free society. As Sullum demonstrates, this struggle is not about the behavior of corporations; it's about the behavior of individuals. It is an attempt by one group of people to impose their tastes and preferences on another.
• For Your Own Good shows that long before Philip Morris or R. J. Reynolds existed, tobacco's opponents condemned smoking as disgusting, immoral, addictive, unhealthy, and inconsiderate. In recent decades, they have used scientific evidence that smoking is hazardous to enlist the state in their crusade, arguing that the government has an obligation to discourage behavior that might lead to disease or injury.
• Given this country's tradition of limited government, however, Americans tend to be skeptical of this argument. Sullum justifies their misgivings, noting that achieving a "smoke-free society" in a nation where tens of millions choose to smoke is necessarily an exercise in tyranny.

Subjects

• Smoking > Public opinion > United States
• Passive smoking > Government policy > United States
• Smoking > Government policy > United States
• Public opinion > United States
• Antismoking movement > United States

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 321-327) and index.

Contents

1. From Devil's Weed to Soldier's Friend -- 2. Appropriate Remedial Action -- 3. Coughing Cowboys -- 4. Vice Charge -- 5. Smoke Alarm -- 6. Try, Try Again -- 7. Little White Slavers -- 8. Doctor's Orders -- Appendix. Ten Myths of the Anti-Smoking Movement.

ISBN

0684827360

LCCN

98010798

OCLC

• 38206893
• ocm38206893

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries