Tainted Truth: The Manipulation of Fact In America [Paperback]

Cynthia Crossen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 1996

Sponsored studies have become America's most powerful and popular tool of persuasion. Tainted Truth shows that much of what we learn from them is false. Although the studies and surveys wear the guise of objective science, their findings almost invariably reflect their sponsors' intentions.

In this important and provocative book, Cynthia Crossen reveals how the manufacturers of silicone breast implants did not disclose information regarding the dangers of the implants, how the demise of the cloth-diaper industry was influenced by questionable statistics paid for by Procter & Gamble -- the leading supplier of disposable diapers, and how even the confirmation of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court was influenced by fast and biased polls.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Crossen, a reporter and editor for the Wall Street Journal , asks us to take a hard look at the "facts"--statistics, surveys and medical studies, among others--which inform our decisions as consumers and as citizens. Noting that Americans profess a healthy skepticism about the data that advertisers, politicians and the media throw at them, Crossen argues that we nevertheless tend to let data sway our choices and our opinions because this sort of information often appears to be the most reliable guide we have. But "information," however persuasive, is never neutral, and the purpose of this book is to expose the interests that underlie the "truths" we have come to trust. Particularly disturbing, the author notes, is that scientific and academic research, which has traditionally represented the disinterested pursuit of knowledge, is increasingly underwritten by corporate sponsors seeking to manipulate the results. As Crossen demonstrates, we are neither trained nor inclined to interrogate the methodology behind the production of the facts that pervade our lives. As a result, she warns, we are at grave risk of being perpetually misled. The author urges both tighter controls on the practices of the research industry and greater awareness on the part of the public. Her book is unremittingly cynical, but Crossen's uncovering of deceptions behind the "truth" as we know it suggests that her cynicism is not unfounded.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Crossen, a Wall Street Journal editor, confirms what the current debate on healthcare demonstrates so clearly: that sophistry is alive and well in this country. It is not just that we are surrounded by bad information but that we are being defrauded by information that has been distorted to serve selfish purposes. Statistics, especially, are used to miseducate the public. Thus, for example, Quaker Oats sponsors studies that claim to show that oatmeal reduces cholesterol and the risk of heart attack and inveighs against studies indicating it has no such effect. The public not only needs to be educated to recognize such sophistry, but the media and universities need to be more responsible about their reporting and research. Recommended for all academic and public libraries.
Jeffrey R. Herold, Bucyrus P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; 1st Touchstone Ed edition (January 25, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684815567
• ISBN-13: 978-0684815565
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #720,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It will open your eyes to how the media distorts truth., July 28, 2003

By 

Niall E. Wogan "author of www.SilentBetrayal.com" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tainted Truth: The Manipulation of Fact In America (Paperback)

This book will open your eyes to what goes on behind the "research" we hear reported on every day. After reading this book you'll no longer be swept along by empty media hype which lacks substance.

She tells some fascinating stories about what really goes on in food and drug "research."

Read it, if you're a lover of hard hitting truthful books.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book had a lot of good facts, but was an INCREDIBLY laborious read, November 27, 2008

By 

Lemas Mitchell "Libertarian/ Empiricist" (Hunan Changsha) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tainted Truth: The Manipulation of Fact In America (Paperback)

It was necessary for a book like this to be written. And this is because for people who are "bloodhounds for the truth" (a la Penn and Teller or James Randi), they want hard data to show why something is accurate and by how much.

However, books like this are very laborious to read because the amount of detail is just overwhelming.

And so a reader is between the Scylla of needing enough detail for plausibility and the Charbydis of actually having to read through all that detail.

17 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Still Tainted, not yet Truth, April 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Tainted Truth: The Manipulation of Fact In America (Paperback)

Tainted Truth took the far opposite side of the manipulation of fact argument. I feel that the content of the book turns the weak minded cynical, and the strong minded incensed. The data provided within the book is accurate for the most part, but there are glaring errors in the data provided in many of the vignettes.

This Book was used in a Graduate school class; I saw some of the class take the information as Gospel, turning them into cynics about any data for the remainder of the program. Others who realized that this was nothing more than another point of view took it as just what it is: another point of view