Ben Waber reviewed Golden holocaust by Proctor, Robert
A Sweeping, Mostly Modern, History
4 stars
This book is part industry history, part science and technology studies analysis, and part public health tome. Most of the industry history is focused on the post WW2 period (I really wanted more on the early history of the industry), and often focuses on marketing campaign strategies. Proctor traces the fascinating history of scientific knowledge about tobacco's harmful effects (weirdly led my Nazi scientists), then pivots to the academic collusion with tobacco firms to muddy the scientific and political waters. He names and shames here, and a number of academic institutions (particularly Stanford) come out looking atrocious. There is voluminous information here on the public health implications of smoking, and while the statistics here aren't often well contextualized if this is of interest to you there's more than enough to chew on here. Highly recommend
This book is part industry history, part science and technology studies analysis, and part public health tome. Most of the industry history is focused on the post WW2 period (I really wanted more on the early history of the industry), and often focuses on marketing campaign strategies. Proctor traces the fascinating history of scientific knowledge about tobacco's harmful effects (weirdly led my Nazi scientists), then pivots to the academic collusion with tobacco firms to muddy the scientific and political waters. He names and shames here, and a number of academic institutions (particularly Stanford) come out looking atrocious. There is voluminous information here on the public health implications of smoking, and while the statistics here aren't often well contextualized if this is of interest to you there's more than enough to chew on here. Highly recommend