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(More customer reviews)The history of antismoking began when Columbus brought tobacco from America to Spain - and the Inquisition clapped some of his crew into irons for smoking. Fast forward to that great public health promoter, Adolf Hitler, who tried to make Germany and much the world smoke-free. Fortunately for us, he was defeated by the armies of Churchill and Roosevelt - one a cigar, the other a cigarette smoker.
Tyrannical prohibitionists are at work today. Here, in New York, we have an ex-smoker billionaire mayor forcing poor smokers to huddle in the rain in the doorways. Elsewhere, my daughter just returned from dirt-poor authoritarian Turkmenistan where it is illegal to smoke in the streets. The fine is $50, which is about a month's salary for locals, and police enforcement is harsh. Why? Because their president stopped smoking and did not want to see other smokers from the window of his limo.
Snowdon writes in a engaging, lively, and sophisticated style. He runs through the scientific evidence: the addictiveness but also the relative harmlessness of nicotine; the health hazards of tar in cigarettes; the ridiculous claims about `secondary smoke.'
The anti-smoking campaigners started out mild and reasonable. They told us to be compassionate to fellow office workers in enclosed spaces. Emboldened by their success, they drove an ever harder bargain. The velvet glove was off and the iron fist of criminalizing tobacco was out. Their campaigns are very well documented in this book.
As a life-long recreational cigar smoker - as well as a man who literally risked his life for freedom - I read this book from cover to cover. It was like nicotine, which paradoxically both relaxes and sharpens the mind. My only minor criticism of this book is that it was written by a Brit and not edited for the American lingo prior to its publication in this country.
What next? What will happen with the Berlin Wall that had been built around smokers in this country, in much of Europe, and not to forget Cuba and Turkmenistan - what will cause that wall to fall?
I feel grateful to the author for his engaging history and wish every thinking person owned a copy. Perhaps that will help to begin cracking the wall.
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Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: A History of Anti-SmokingSpain, 1493 - Europe's first smoker imprisioned by the Inquisition England, 1604 - Massive tax rise on tobacco in a bid to discourage smoking Canada, 1676 - Smoking is banned in the street United States, 1899 - Anti-smoking campaigners call for the eradication of tobacco Germany, 1944 - Smoking banned on public transport to protect workers from secondhand smoke In this revealing and meticulously researched account of an untold story, Christopher Snowdon traces the fortunes of those who have tried to stamp out tobacco through the ages. Velvet Glove, Iron Fist takes the reader on a journey from 15th century Cuba to 21st century California, via Revolutionary France, Victorian Britain, Prohibition Era America and Nazi Germany. Along the way, the author finds uncanny parallels between today's anti-smoking activists and those of the past. Today, as the same tactics begin to be used against those who enjoy alcohol, chocolate, fast food, gambling and perfume, Velvet Glove, Iron Fist provides a timely reminder that once politicians start regulating private behaviour, they find it very hard to quit.
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