This book review was originally published in the 10 May 1998 issue of the “Washington Post”. It is reprinted here by permission. Readers may take issue with some of the statements contained in this review—for example, that research on cigarette advertising “proves very little”, that the notion of smoking as an addiction is “simplistic”, and that the Food and Drug Administration “could well ban cigarettes entirely” (theoretically possible but as unlikely as the Galapagos Islands winning the World Cup). Nevertheless, we reprint it here because it offers insight into how developments in tobacco control are perceived and interpreted by those outside the field of tobacco control.—ED

Cornered: Big Tobacco at the bar of justice. Peter Pringle. New York, New York, USA: Henry Holt, 1998. ISBN 0-805-04292-X, pp 352, US$27.50.

The people vs. Big Tobacco: how the states took on the cigarette giants. Carrick Mollenkamp, Adam Levy, Joseph Menn, Jeffrey Rothfeder. Princeton, New Jersey, USA: Bloomberg Press, 1998. ISBN 1-576-60057-2 , pp 334, US$23.95.

For your own good: the anti-smoking crusade and the tyranny of public health. Jacob Sullum. New York, New York, USA: Free Press, 1998. ISBN 0-684-82736-0 , pp 338, US$25.

Perhaps the worst luck in recent publishing history befell Gene Lyons in 1996. His book subtitled How the Media Invented Whitewater arrived on reviewers’ desks just days after a jury convicted Arkansas governor Jim Guy Tucker for his role in that affair. Peter Pringle and the four writers of The People vs. Big Tobacco suffer from similarly unfortunate timing. These books painstakingly trace the fascinating—but now largely irrelevant—legal maneuverings that led to a bargain among the tobacco companies, attorneys general, and private litigators last June. A deal that seemed historic is now only a footnote to history. Just last month, tobacco executives announced that they would no longer …