cover image Ending the Tobacco Holocaust: How Big Tobacco Affects Our Health, Pocketbook, and Political Freedom—And What We Can Do About It

Ending the Tobacco Holocaust: How Big Tobacco Affects Our Health, Pocketbook, and Political Freedom—And What We Can Do About It

Michael Rabinoff, . . Elite, $24.95 (452pp) ISBN 978-1-60070-012-5

Almost everyone knows that smoking is bad. But thanks to political lobbies, misinformation campaigns and billions of advertising dollars spent by tobacco companies each year, it is hard to know just how bad. Psychiatrist Rabinoff goes a long way toward clarifying the questions surrounding the number one leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., responsible for about 450,000 deaths here each year. Nonsmokers will likely fume over Big Tobacco's cunning strategies for keeping people addicted—particularly children, who are tomorrow's smokers, after all. Smokers may feel browbeaten by Rabinoff's sometimes hyperbolic writing style. For aspiring nonsmokers, there are reasons to quit on nearly every page, whether political (e.g., collusion between the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries; how cigarettes are pushed to children overseas) or scientific (how cigarettes are chemically altered to heighten addiction, and the causality between smoking and mental illness). The evidence Rabinoff amasses is overwhelming, making this recommended reading for anyone who wants to quit. B&w photos. $25,000 marketing budget. (Mar.)