The book
Welcome. Thanks for visiting and please stay a while. Velvet Glove, Iron Fist is the first comprehensive history of the anti-smoking movement. This book has not yet been published but several chapters are available here free of charge (these are chapters three, ten, eleven and thirteen). Or you might prefer to start with the introduction.
In the news
28.06.08
: ASH (USA) support banning smoking in the home "even if no nonsmokers' health is being put at risk". Tobacco control expert Dr Michael Siegel criticises the measure here.
26.06.08
What's new?
A selection of articles about recent events or subjects too obscure to fit into the book:
Cartman takes on the anti-smokers
South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone talk about why they wrote an episode attacking the anti-smoking movement.
What would the great libertarian John Stuart Mill have made of the modern anti-smoking crusade?
In October 2007, the anti-smoking pressure group Action on Smoking and Health released a press release which dismissed claims that pubs and bingo halls would see a drop in trade as a result of the smoking ban as 'myths'. This article examines how credible ASH's position is six months on.
Publish and Be Damned looks at the claim that heart attacks fell dramatically in Scotland following the smoking ban. My correspondence with Scotland's shadow public health minister can be read in some brief words from Dr Richard Simpson.
For those who might be interested, I have compiled a full, annotated list of every passive smoking study ever conducted involving women married to smokers. 67 studies are assessed in total, most of which can be downloaded in full here or here
1 + 1 = 11: Anti-smoking science
1 + 1 = 11 is a series of articles about intellectual dishonesty and scientific incompetence in the tobacco control movement. The first part looks at the claim that "tornado-level ventilation" is required to remove secondhand smoke from a room.
The second part examines the bizarre notion that smoking is worse for nonsmokers than it is for smokers.
The third part shows that the smoking ban in Helena, Montana could not possibly have been responsible for a 40% drop in heart attack admission.
The fourth part looks at the key report used by pro-ban campaigners in 2005. It claimed that one bar-worker a week was dying because of secondhand smoke; a claim that was based on a schoolboy error.
The fifth part looks at the notorious Environmental Protection Agency report into secondhand smoke and asks if it is possible to hold government accountable for disseminating false information.
What they're saying about Velvet Glove
"I think this is a remarkable book. It deserves to reach a wide audience and I wish you every success in getting it published in print."
"An absorbing read, I have just finished the history of tobacco section and was educated in an enjoyable way, I will certainly be buying this book when it is published."
"Mr. Snowdon's prose is lucid and dispassionate, his reporting is meticulous, and his research is awesome. These chapters present much that I have read, in piecemeal fashion, elsewhere plus much that is new. Essentially, it seems to be all the history available, but now compiled in one text so it is easily accessible."
"Thanks for the preview, Chris...absorbing reading and easily understood by the layman."
"Absolutely epic piece of work, well done!"
"I just read everything and I think your book will be excellent. We just had a total smoking ban pass here in Louisville and I have been very curious about why this has happened so fast and to such an extreme. Your book answered many questions. I can't wait to read the rest."
Although parts of this book have been made available free of charge, all material on this website is subject to copyright. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any party without prior written permission of Christopher Snowdon.
You can contact the author by e-mail at author@velvetgloveironfist.com
Thanks for visiting!