Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: A History of Anti-Smoking [Paperback]

Christopher Snowdon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 22, 2009

Spain, 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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"DON'T forget the cigarettes for Tommy," ran one patriotic British ditty during the first world war. American generals told their government they needed "tobacco as much as bullets"; charities sent cigarettes to the front-line. After the war, non-smokers seemed odd. The crime writer, Agatha Christie, even apologised for not smoking. She had tried many times, she said, but just could not like it.

In this solidly researched, interesting and only occasionally strident book, Christopher Snowdon, an independent researcher, documents the cigarette's journey from patriotic necessity to pariah status. There had always been those who found smoking "loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs," as James I put it in 1604. Some despots, in Hindustan and Persia, went further, slitting smokers' lips or pouring molten lead down their throats. American prohibitionists claimed that smoking led to moral decay; Nazis that it was a decadent Jewish habit. But few non-bigots thought that their personal distaste warranted limiting the freedom of others. --The Economist, June 11 2009

Product Details

• Paperback: 415 pages
• Publisher: Little Dice (June 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0956226507
• ISBN-13: 978-0956226501
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #392,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Close - and yes, the cigar!, October 31, 2009

By 

Dr (Jackson Heights, NY, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: A History of Anti-Smoking (Paperback)

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.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History + Science = Excellence!, September 6, 2009

By 

Michael J. Mcfadden (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: A History of Anti-Smoking (Paperback)

British author Christopher Snowdon has written a book that will rank in history up next to Jacob Sullum's For Your Own Good and Richard Kluger's massive Ashes to Ashes. It may even end up outshining both previous works as his combination of excellent research skills combines with an engaging writing style that makes Velvet Glove, Iron Fist both more readable and more fulfilling than either of them.

At roughly 400 pages, Snowdon doesn't present the sheer mass of information that Kluger's Pulitzer Prize winning Ashes does, but his focus on the antismoking movement (as opposed to Kluger's wider ranging examination of the tobacco industry and its battles) manages to convey far more information about this one important aspect of the subject and does it in a far more accessible manner. His exacting care for references and facts duplicates Sullum's, but although Sullum's style is readable and enjoyable I believe he has been outdone by his British counterpart.

Velvet Glove will be particularly attractive to British and European audiences because, while Snowdon provides a comprehensive overview of the American antismoking movement, he pays special attention to the building and history of that movement across the sea. His approach embodies a strong neutrality that will win him friends and enemies on both sides of the issue but his objective examinations of the scientific distortions behind the antismoking movement serve as a damning indictment despite their objectivity. While the subtitle of the book is "A History of Anti-smoking," Snowdon's meticulous approach to the science involved in the debate goes far beyond what anyone else has yet offered.

I am proud to go on record in giving this book a fully deserved five stars.

Michael J. McFadden
Author of Dissecting Antismokers' Brains

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating read, June 27, 2009

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This review is from: Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: A History of Anti-Smoking (Paperback)

I got this book yesterday, and I've already read most of it. It's fascinating. Extensive research, and extremely well-written - a page-turner. I hadn't realized that evidence linking smoking to lung cancer had surfaced so far back in the 1930's - 1950's, and was dismissed by the politicians, who were concerned about their tax revenues, and doctors, many of whom smoked. At the same time, the anti-smoking movement is truly frightening - the tendencies that are being unleashed, to demonize and segregate segments of society, starting with smokers and moving on from there. Excellent, excellent book. Would recommend it to anyone because it's such an eye-opener from a number of angles.