Tobacco Books

I run a cigar shop, and this is the best cigar guide book which I use myself and would highly recommend to anyone, from beginners to experts.

My title is used by the author to describe the outcome of the conflict between tobacco buying monopolies and tobacco farmers in Kentucky and Tennessee in the early 1900s. The so-called Black Patch War and related attempts in central Kentucky's burley region to resist monopoly began with the creation, in 1889, of the American Tobacco Company by James B. Duke. Competition ended, prices fell below the cost of production, and recalcitrant farmers responded by attempting to "out organize the organizers." The more well known sensational aspects of this saga ensued with the Night Riders or "Silent Brigade" of farmers belonging to the Planters Protective Association coercing independent farmers or "hillbillies." The most spectacular raid occurred on Hopkinsville, KY in 1907 in which 500 masked men wreaked havoc, causing $200,000 damage and spurring reluctant government officials into action.

Tracy Campbell's book recounts the end of small farmer republicanism and the rise of agribusiness. He clearly sympathizes with the farmers, with the book's central focus pitting the forces of monopoly against the ability of tobacco producers to organize and maintain unanimity. He identifies with the farmers' emphasis on the common good and assails private accumulation. This book successfully broadens the scope of earlier Night Rider interpretation from simply the violence to the rise and fall of the "movement culture." The Black Patch War is placed in the tradition of American agrarian unrest and insurgency. This book is well written, researched, and organized. Some disagreement regarding his conclusions by historians inevitably resulted, but it warrants reading by anyone interested in rural or agricultural history or the more salacious aspects of business-labor unrest. The violence of the War and the region in general are also expertly related and analyzed in Suzanne Marshall's Violence in the Black Patch of Kentucky and Tennessee. Campbell's work stresses the harm to society created by sanctioned monopoly and claims that the entire episode previews "ominous things to come." In the words of Night Rider organizer Dr. David Amoss, "It is a fight between the working classes and the plutocracy, those who labor, and those who exploit labor,... a fight to the finish."

From: British Medical Journal October 2007

"He takes up some of the hottest issues in contemporary tobacco control worldwide and shows us their ethical, political, and policy complexities. Chapman's chapter on harm reduction and product regulation is one of the most nuanced pieces I've ever read on this contentious topic, which threatens to seriously divide the tobacco control movement.

Situating the issue within the history of industry product engineering, he reminds readers of the "lights" debacle, from which tobacco control advocates still have much to learn. The tobacco industry developed so called light cigarettes that delivered less tar and nicotine, as measured by machine. However, it was determined only much later (after millions of smokers switched to lights, thinking they would be safer) that lights were no safer at all, because people covered the specially engineered ventilation holes that allowed the lower levels measured by machine, and they "compensated" by smoking more and more deeply--facts that the industry knew all along. Given the recent interest by major multinational companies in acquiring manufacturers of smokeless tobacco products, Chapman argues for a strong regulatory regime. Under such a regime the amounts of specific, known harmful constituents in all tobacco products would be reduced and product distribution would be curtailed, but he warns that such tinkering should not divert tobacco control from its primary focus.

Chapman's book is serious scholarship, but don't mistake it for some spiritless tome that only academics will want to slog through. Anyone remotely interested in public health advocacy, ethics, and policy--not only related to tobacco--will find it a rewarding read. Chapman blends history, policy, ethics, and advocacy in a witty, engaging, and accessible way. Discussing Australia's laws on smoke-free areas, for example, he observes: "For a time in Australia, you could not smoke within two metres of a bar, this being deemed sensible to protect bar staff from harm. But at 2.01 metres, the idea was that they can breathe easy. There was the small problem that everyone forgot to tell the smoke it had to keep back. Anyone with an IQ a point higher than it takes to grunt understood that something was very wrong here."

Chapman sees informed advocacy as part and parcel of public health, and the second half of the book is an A to Z of advocacy, focusing on tobacco but packed with useful gems for advocates in any area of health and drawn from his own long experience with advocacy at many levels. Perhaps it's not quite the Sistine Chapel ceiling, but Chapman--who began his artistic career as an advocate defacing cigarette billboards with witty counter-phrases--knows how to think strategically about the best ways to move from symbolic gestures to genuine policy change. This book should stimulate many productive actions towards ending the holocaust."
Professor Ruth Malone, University of California, San Francisco

Okay, so it was the original title "Quit smart : a guide to freedom from cigarettes" that I used oh those many years ago, but I'll guarantee that this one is as good if not even better than the original edition! I tried all the books, the tapes, the pills (no easily accessible patch at the time), and then I found "Quit Smart". It laid everything out in three basic steps: 1) Preparing to become a nonsmoker, 2) Becoming a nonsmoker & the hardest 3) Remaining a nonsmoker. I read it and followed the program and it really worked. I passed it on to a friend and never saw it again. She said that it helped her and her friends. I highly recommend this book. It actually made the process less painful. To this day, I have not touched a cigarette, and I feel great ... Oh, and the author also has a method to help you from gaining weight when you quit. That works, too. I really only gained about 5 pounds. If you really want to quit smoking, buy this book. You won't regret it!

Cathy Coburn is a former smoker who quit the tobacco habit after 30 years of nicotine addiction. In Quit Smoking And Become The Best Me I Can Be, Cathy shows others how they too can free themselves of the self-poisoning and ultimately lethal habit. Quit Smoking And Become The Best Me I Can Be offers a three-week program that any reader can follow, filled with tips and tricks for staying smoke-free, from deep breathing and relaxation exercises to learning how to give oneself little rewards to offset cigarettes to the benefits of vigorous exercise and more. Quit Smoking And Become The Best Me I Can Be rejects nicotene therapy, which is simply continuing one's addiction with a different type of drug delivery system, and concentrates on giving the reader personal tools to break free from addiction forever - one craving at a time. Highly recommended.

To successfully stop smoking you need to do 2 things: beat your addiction to nicotine and break your smoking habits. (quitting smoking is about skills not willpower - if you had willpower, would you be smoking?). Quitting Smoking for Dummies shows you how to do both. Brizer reviews the medicines out there that can help you quit, so you can select what is best for you. He then goes through how to break your smoking habit, how to select a support group if you need one, and how to stay clean (prevent the relapse). The book is well written, engaging, and the clever/witty in the usual Dummies way. The book is comprehensive -- now this is a requirement I guess for a mainstream/book-for-everyone, but it is too long for the average smoker? For example, are you pregnant? Do you chew? Etc. If not, don't read those sections. I would recommend reading over the Table of Contents and finding the information you need to help you quit. In short, this book is well written, correct, and comprehensive information. Good luck.

This book has expertly examined the sociological concepts of social control and tobacco. Although it is presented in a scholarly manner it also has the potential to reach the average reader in it's attempt at applying theory to practice, particularly in the realm of health promotion and education. Worth the time to read-

It is a dangerous thing to recieve however painless and intreguing it may appear at first.

I thought that this book was very good. It helped me to get an A on my oral history project. the facts and things in this book were truely intrieging! I found myself unable to put it down and spent an entire night reading it once!

Excellent resource about smoking and the effects of tobacco. Should be required reading for smokers or those considering smoking. Straight forward science, health, and political information. Contains resource information on helping you quit.