Pulitzer Prize General Non Fiction Winner
Ashes to Ashes
by Richard Kluger
Summary
A nearly 800-page history of the American tobacco industry, from colonial cultivation through the rise of Philip Morris and the late-20th-century litigation wave. Kluger draws on internal company documents, scientific records, and regulatory archives to show how cigarette makers concealed evidence of addiction and disease for decades. The book stands as the definitive account of one of the most consequential public health scandals in U.S. corporate history.
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Historical Context & Significance
At nearly 800 pages, it is the definitive record of how the tobacco companies knew about the health risks of smoking for decades while denying them.