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Jacob Sullum
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For Your Own Good: The Anti-Smoking Crusade and the Tyranny of Public Health Hardcover – Bargain Price, April 1, 1998

by Jacob Sullum (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 12 ratings
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In this controversial book, Jacob Sullum demolishes the leading claims of the antismoking movement; their assertions have been advanced, he says, because the movement's principals would like the government to take control of the tobacco industry. Have you heard that secondhand smoke is bad for you? "There is no evidence that casual exposure to secondhand smoke has any impact on your life expectancy," writes Sullum, a drug policy expert and senior editor at Reason magazine. The debate over smoking is really more about the nature of liberty--how should a society restrict the choices of its members?--than it is about public health. Ex-Surgeon General C. Everett Koop is certain not to like For Your Own Good, but Sullum makes a powerful and provocative case against America's public health crusaders.
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  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Publisher
    Free Press
  3. Publication date
    April 1, 1998
  4. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000H2NDR8
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Free Press (April 1, 1998)
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 12 ratings

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Jacob Sullum

Jacob Sullum

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
12 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

ARiggs
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2010
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Written by a non-smoking researcher who points out the inconsistencies with the campaign against smoking. Anyone who values their liberties should read this with an open mind.
5 people found this helpful
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S. Barton
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible read!
Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2009
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A must read for anyone who thinks they know what is best for the rest of us or for those who are fed up with that type of mentality!
2 people found this helpful
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J. C Clark
4.0 out of 5 stars A little redundant & unfocused, but sure to light your fire
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2002
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This book will certainly set you aflame. Whether you hate smoking (as I do), prefer civil liberties (as I do), and/or despise the busybodies who know best how we should live our lives (as I very much do), you will find something here to excite you. If you belong to that latter group--please read it and stop your meddling. You do not know what's best for everyone!
I wish he had spent more time attacking the medical model of "addiction". This has changed our society in more ways than we can contemplate, and all for the worse. But his naming names and dates of those who have told lies in furtherance of a good cause is worth the price of admission alone. A good book, one that tells a story that cannot even get to the sidelines of our know-it-all culture, and asks questions we do not permit to be asked.
For those who prefer freedom and personal responsibility, this book delivers one knock-out blow after another. Use his data and arguments and you'll reduce opponents to name-calling.
17 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars The only winner is Big Tobacco
Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2019
Sadly, the only true beneficiary of the ideological position taken in this book is the tobacco industry itself. They read this and continue laughing all the way to the bank. Rest assured that the CEOsof Altria/Philip Morris and Reynolds American and British American Tobacco, not to mention the Chinese Tobacco monopoly, sit back and enjoy this internecine warfare among the public, fueled by ideologues. We can argue all the ideology and get all ad hominem with each other, like Mr. Sullum’s book tends to do, but the bottom line is the bottom line, and it’s worth close to $1 trillion a year to Big Tobacco. Get real, folks.
5 people found this helpful
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scribe
5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating history of the anti-smoking movement
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2009
Verified Purchase
A great history of the anti-smoking movement, in a very readable format. An important book for anyone interested in civil liberties and personal space.
2 people found this helpful
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Gary
5.0 out of 5 stars A Logical Indictment of the "All or None" Political Approach
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2005
Jacob Sullum's book, "For Your Own Good: The Anti-Smoking Crusade and the Tyranny of Public Health" is maybe the best book for anyone interested in the issue of smoking. Sullum, a non-smoker, has taken a logical, meticulously researched look at the smoking issue and come to the heart of the essential problem; the "all or none" approach of the anti-tobacco movement.

Rather than approaching his book as a confirmation for smokers who wish to smoke, Sullum examines all of the essential issues of tobacco use including the health effects of secondhand smoke, the danger of smoking itself, and the comparable danger of both activities in relation to other activities. Sullum gives the specifics of these issues and points out the problems with the broad-brush generalities that anti-smoking crusaders have given to the public. For example, one has a difficult time reconciling statements like "Smoking takes ten years off your life" against "Quitting smoking for ten years will return your lungs to a healthy state". Sullum addresses discrepancies like this and brings the issues into perspective.

Sullum takes a cool and reasoned approach to this book and editorializes only at points that demand it. Sullum wants the reader to know they've come to the right place if they want 'just the facts' and the inevitable logical conclusions that can be drawn from them. In purpose, "For Your Own Good" doesn't vilify the anti-smoking movement, despite its title. Sullum points out early in the book that he found the vast majority of anti-smoking proponents he interviewed to be reaonable and well-worth talking too. It also doesn't give smokers a free-pass to smoke eighty cigarettes a day without any fear of ill health effects. The tobacco industry takes its lumps where warranted, but is equally defended against the wholesale extortion it has been exposed to. The tobacco industry may have spent billions to get millions to smoke, but it is also now forced to pay billions for a campaign of self-incrimination, and even pays out billions for public programs that benefit non-smokers by an overwhelming majority.

In the end, Sullum's reasoned approach makes for a most effective indictment of the anti-smoking crusade. The anti-smoking movement is "all or none" and wants you to hate smoking and oppress those who choose to smoke as a means to ending smoking forever. The political implications do not matter. If a "smoke free society" means the total loss of freedom for those who smoke and the eventual loss of freedom for all, we're going to live our lives as others tell us to, like it or not. The spread of misinformation isn't important as long as it achieves the ultimate goal.

Think of the most zealous of religious groups being given tens of billions of dollars and complete government support for their view. Any individual not expressing total devotion to any of the religious tenets is an apostate to be condemened in public. This view will be expressed on every radio and television commercial break. Any means necessary will be used to express this view. This is the current power of the anti-smoking movement eight years after this book was published.

Sullum covers everything you wanted to know about tobacco but were afraid to ask in 350 pages. Sullum carefully covers his trail and carries the reader on to the next page with the feeling that they've been given the best information available. The history of tobacco and smoking is also covered in brief.

I wish that Sullum would write a follow up or at least an updated edition for this book. In 2005, this book would be an eye-opener for those who have so completely swallowed the bait. I just realized that I'm the first person to review this book in five years. Scary, to say the least.
25 people found this helpful
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