Sarah Milov

History focusing on the dynamics of growing tobacco (as a complement to The Cigarette Century, a book that is far more focused on selling cigarettes). Unsurprisingly there are huge racial dynamics at play, including the infuriating details about racial discrimination in allocation of growing quotas in the New Deal. I had forgotten/perhaps never really known how long tobacco growing subsidies lasted even as the consensus on the health dangers of smoking lasted. Also really interesting discussion of how the antismoking movement was led by educated white women and took on NIMBY aspects, as well as leveraging “rights talk” pioneered by other movements to assert a right to smoke-free spaces.… (mehr)