Tobacco Books

I bought this book for a research project I was working on for my history class, and I never found a book more tedious than this one. Kulikoff focuses his research on economic and demographic statistics explained in very long, boring paragraphs. In addition to that he highlights the statistics with MANY charts and graphs. For a reader wanting to know the social history on Tobacco and Slaves in the early Chesapeake, this book is NOT for you. If you're looking for numbers and dates and charts, look no further.

Tobacco and Slaves is a synthesis that attempts to trace the development of culture in Maryland and Virginia. He approaches this task in three parts; the first is a very detailed survey of demographic and economic development, while the second and third parts analyze the formation of white and black societies. A materialist/New Left framework shapes Kulikoff's interpretations in that he acknowledges that "this work is predicated upon a form of historical materialism that gives material conditions (demography and the economy in particular) a privileged role in the formation of ideologies, classes, and cultures" (16). Additionally, the book's theme centers on the development and relationship of economic classes. Yet, Kulikoff seems to be consciously avoiding a "bottom-up" approach to history that tends to shape much of the work produced by the New Left. Instead, he attempts, sometime awkwardly, to show the whole of Chesapeake society, black and white, as it developed over one hundred twenty years.

There is much to praise in this book, the scope of material presented and researched is impressive, and Kulikoff's survey of slave families is quite valuable. One drawback is that his insistence on materialistic causation minimizes human agency and gives short-shrift to the complexities of human motivations and behaviors. Indeed, the materialist model is not entirely satisfactory, but the reader does not need to accept all of Kulikoff's conclusions to appreciate the complexities of Chesapeake society that he so ably presents.

First, I can't believe this book costs $16, a real rip-off. It's not a book, it's a pamphlet. I blame myself for that one since I didn't check how long the book was.
Second, who published this book. They ought to be shot! I did better writing in high school. When reading this "book", I was confused whether it was in 1st person or third person since the author seemed not to know either. Next the grammer was horrid with typos and homophones throughout. Sometimes it was just the wrong word all together.
Third, she repeats the same thing about her mother on every page, about if her mom had let her come back maybe things wouldn't have happened...duh!
Basically a very poorly written "book". And the publisher should be cursed out for not doing a once over.

I can honestly say there is not a dull page in the book. What this women endured, in what we basically would have to call modern times, is beyond comprehension for most, and this new writer captured it perfectly. I think it is an excellent book for both young and old to read so they can truly understand how your choices in life can stay with you forever and stay with your children forever.

I bought this book as a text for my Chemical Dependancies class for my masters degree in Psychology. I found this text to be very dry. It is informative, with lots of statistical/research type details and useful for that purpose. However, I found the text to lack a more human dimension and as a result i found that I had to make quite an effort to read it ( that is unusual for me). I think that, as dependancies on Alcohol, tobacco and other substances is such a widespread phenomenon in our society, that so many people can relate to, as so many families have been touched by the problems of a loved one with addiction problems, I think that it would have been possible to enrich this text with some case studies or stories. These would have brought the text more into reality and given it more feeling. As it is the book reads very much like a dry research paper on the phenomenon and lacks a little Soul. A good book for someone in the field, but not so good for a student making its first steps within it.

The author has performed exhaustive archival research to show that the Bahian Reconcavo not only produced plantation crops for export but that small and medium-size producers became growers of manoic tubers--yucca--the basic staple, in the form of dried and roasted powder--of the region's population.

This is an interesting, amusing, and well-written anecdotal history of tobacco. It focuses on the good old days when nearly everybody liked smoking, and essentially ends its coverage with the 1964 Surgeon General's report "Smoking and Health" that starting turning public opinion against tobacco. There's a short epilog that covers developments since then.

There's not much analysis here, and only a few glimpses behind the scenes into the workings of tobacco companies and their marketing. Other good books that offer a more in-depth look at cigarettes, especially the battles over smoking, are Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris and The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America.

I thought that the book was very helpful on giving the reader facts of smoking, the harm it can do to you, and what additives and ingredients that there are in a cigarette. The history of the tobacco nation seemed to be a long one with many good and bad times for the public and niccotine companies. Some specific things that I thought was good, was the way the public helped ourselves become aware of the harm and side affects smoking can do to you. The way the public put health warnings on smoking ads, putting up advertisements that was really disgusting but true, i.e. an unborn child smoking, symbolizing how smoking when pregnant can harm the child, and etc.

I had to write a very long paper for my school, and this book helped by giving me many supporting details

In the actual text, the word "shocking" was in scare quotes and meant exactly the opposite of what it seems to mean here.

This is worth a selective read if are a serious student of the cigarette industry and how it knew early about nicotine's additive and harmful effects. It provides a good insight into the thinking and industry-wide processes. Since it quotes extensively from actual corporate memos (that were given to the Univ of California by an unknown donor) it can be dry reading at times. The authors have organized the raw material well. While this is an important book, and revealing of a rich and powerful industry, it is more useful as a reference. A more readable book on the tobacco industry is Ashes to Ashes by Richard Kluger.

This is an excellent collection of cane and pipe designs! The designs are quite imaginative. While some are impractical, most make very good walking sticks. This is not a book for neophyte cane makers, but a great addition to your shop library

The carving drawings are ugly and demon-like. If you dig the bizarre, then this is the book for you!

Teddy Roosevelt had the White House as his "bully pulpit" for preaching his social philosophy; David Champion has this "mystery" novel. I use quotation marks because there is no mystery involved in this book, except that of how such a poor work ever got published.

Champion populates this screed against the tobacco industry with a conglomeration of mystery-genre stereotypes: the heroic trial lawyer who is flamboyant, arrogant, but basically idealistic (he offers to return his fee if his ideals are not fulfilled); his shlimazel son, the soft-hearted investigator; the ne'er-do-well but actually brialliant local lawyer who assists them; the poor-but-proud client with the saccharine family (12!, count 'em 12! daughters); the evil giant coporation that bibes entire states; the corrupt New York (of course) lawyer and the corrupt small-towm "establishment" law firm who represent the coporation; a death-bed confession; and last, but not least, a deus-ex-machina to save the day.

This book should be categorized as a fantasy, not a mystery. Don't encourage the author by buying it, or even by borrowing it from a library.

This book is another in the "evil tobacco company taken to court" genre. It is a quick read, heavy on the stereotypes, and pretty light on believability and facts, but it does a good job of characterization and use of suspense.

I doubt a real court would allow either the "surprise witness's" arrest for embezzlement, or the attempted bribing of a plaintiff's counsel, to be presented to the jury. Nor would the plaintiff's blindness be allowed to negate the proven defense that tobacco companies complied with federal law in warning their customers.

It's not worth buying, but is worth borrowing from the library for an afternoon's reading.