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Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Erik M. Conway
By (author) Naomi Oreskes
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:368
Dimensions(mm): Height 198,Width 129
Category/GenreImpact of science and technology on society
Global warming
ISBN/Barcode 9781408824832
ClassificationsDewey:174.95
Audience
General

Publishing Details

Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publication Date 7 June 2012
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

The U.S. scientific community has long led the world in research on such areas as public health, environmental science, and issues affecting quality of life. Our scientists have produced landmark studies on the dangers of DDT, tobacco smoke, acid rain, and global warming. But at the same time, a small yet potent subset of this community leads the world in vehement denial of these dangers. Merchants of Doubt tells the story of how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and scientific advisers, with deep connections in politics and industry, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades. Remarkably, the same individuals surface repeatedly - some of the same figures who have claimed that the science of global warming is "not settled" denied the truth of studies linking smoking to lung cancer, coal smoke to acid rain, and CFCs to the ozone hole. "Doubt is our product," wrote one tobacco executive. These 'experts' supplied it. Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, historians of science, roll back the rug on this dark corner of the American scientific community, showing how ideology and corporate interests, aided by a too-compliant media, have skewed public understanding of some of the most pressing issues of our era.

Author Biography

Naomi Oreskes is Professor of History and Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego. Her essay 'Beyond the Ivory Tower' was a milestone in the fight against global warming denial. Erik Conway is the resident historian at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Fighting Facts is their first book together.

Reviews

Anyone concerned about the state of democracy in America should read this book -- Al Gore Brilliantly reported and written with brutal clarity * Huffington Post * It is tempting to require that all those engaged in the business of conveying scientific information to the general public should read it * Science * A hard-hitting thriller ... also a meticulously researched history book and a portal into the world of real science ... A fascinating story * West Australian * Excellent, important * Choice *