Tobacco USA

Children's Literature - Christopher Moning

The tobacco plant has been cultivated for thousands of years. In historical terms, it is a recent development that tobacco is perceived to be harmful to one's health. In the United States, the smoking of cigarettes continued to gain in popularity until the Surgeon General's first official warning in 1964. This meticulously researched book provides fascinating information about the history of tobacco, its agricultural methods, and the social, political, and legal battles the industry has been embroiled in for much of the past half century. Of special interest is the examination of the lurid strategies of the large tobacco makers known as Big Tobacco. Billboards, cartoons, and other advertisements chronicle the efforts of Big Tobacco to recruit young people as "replacement smokers." Only in the last decade have the seemingly impregnable legal defenses of Big Tobacco been dealt their first defeats. A timeline outlines the history of watershed events of the tobacco industry.

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-An outstanding historical account of the tobacco leaf and how it changed from a ceremonial tool to a health hazard. Heyes summarizes this multifaceted history in a concise narrative that captures readers' attention and sustains it throughout. Through the use of perfectly placed cartoons, advertisements, and quotations, the author explains complex political, financial, and social issues in a logical manner. She discusses the development of tobacco as a cash crop and governmental revenue source; how it spread throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia; and how this agricultural commodity became a billion-dollar industry that grew out of control in the United States. The text touches on how tobacco is grown, auctioned, and sold; how the industry hid research regarding the addictive qualities of nicotine; why the market continued to flourish despite efforts to curb these huge corporations; and the demise of the industry through mounting lawsuits and the publication of self-incriminating memos. This to-the-point volume will answer students' research questions and will enable them to discuss this controversial business intelligently. A fine companion to Richard Kluger's Ashes to Ashes (Knopf, 1996), Heyes's title offers a lively and far-reaching overview.-Joanne K. Cecere, Highland High School, NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.