Smoking Not Allowed: The Debate

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up In the first part of this book, Berger delineates the development of the smoking habit and the subsequent smoking debate. She examines the latest medical evidence of the proven and possible physical detriments resulting from smoking and provides the statistical data which clearly establishes that correlation. Part II explores the legal, economic, and social aspects of banning smoking. The black-and-white photography does not enhance the frank discussion of the smoking debate, but neither does it detract. The content is more accessible to average students than the Surgeon General's report Smoking and Health (1979) and the data is more current than Madison's Smoking and You (Messner, 1975; o.p.), another history of smoking and its physiological effects on the body. Curtis Casewit's Stop Smoking Book for Teens (Messner, 1980; o.p.) is more of a ``how to'' than an analysis of the debate. Sue Diehl, Robertsville Junior High School, Oak Ridge, Tenn.