Product Description
Eric Burns, who chronicled the social history of alcohol in "The Spirits of America" turns to tobacco in "The Smoke of the Gods". Ranging from ancient times to the present day, "The Smoke of the Gods" is a lively history of tobacco, especially in the United States. Although tobacco use is controversial in the U.S. today, Burns reminds us that this was not always the case. For centuries tobacco was generally thought to have medicinal and even spiritual value. Most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were tobacco users or growers, or both. According to Burns, tobacco changed the very course of U.S. history, because its discovery caused the British to support Jamestown, its struggling New World colony. An entertaining and informative look at a subject that makes daily news headlines, "The Smoke of the Gods" is a history that is, well, quite addictive.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.0 based on 3 reviews)

A good overview with a limited scope by Robert M. Bittner (Charlotte, MI United States)

3 Stars
January 26, 2009
I have read numerous books written on tobacco over the last 100+ years, from the fairly dry (Alfred Dunhill's "The Pipe Book") to the too-trendy-to-be-of-any-use (G. Cabrera Infante's "Holy Smoke"). Burns's "The Smoke of the Gods" is hardly dry; the book can be highly enjoyable to read, especially in the first half. If you're looking for an apparently well-researched history of tobacco -- with a particular focus on its social impact -- from its earliest whiffs, the first half of the book delivers better than perhaps any other book I've read. But it starts to falter once the timeline reaches the late 1800s. And unless you're interested only in the history of the cigarette -- and, then, only in the health/quitting discussion or the advertising impact -- you might as well stop once the book reaches the 1950s. From that point on, the discussion completely ignores the Cuban tobacco embargo, the entire subject of pipe smoking (including the sudden blossoming of boutique tobacco blenders that began in the 1990s and continues today), and the cigar resurgence that took hold in the 1990s. One could finish this book believing that pipe smoking had vanished and that no one really smokes cigars anymore. In fact, while pipe smoking's numbers are tiny (by comparison with cigarettes), there has, perhaps, never been so many artisan pipe makers (selling pipes in the $250-$1,000+ range) and pipe-tobacco blenders in existence as there are right now. In addition, dedicated cigar bars continue to exist throughout the country, in cities big and small. It actually would have been nice for Burns to consider why those facts are true, what tobacco delivers (besides nicotine addiction, which is largely irrelevant for pipe/cigar smokers) that continues to earn it a place in some people's lives. I had no expectation that this would be a book by a tobacco consumer. I was not looking for a modern apologia. But it seems that Burns's perspective was completely skewed once the health debate surrounding cigarette smoking entered the picture. I would have appreciated a book that truly cast its eye at the *whole* social picture surrounding the continuing use of tobacco. Finally, it must also be said that, while Burns begins the story in South America, he is really aiming at a U.S.-based readership; once tobacco makes its way from the Americas to Europe and back again, the rest of the world's tobacco use is almost completely disregarded.

A good introduction that doesn't live up to its title by Robert M. Bittner (Charlotte, MI United States)

3 Stars
January 12, 2009
I have read numerous books written on tobacco over the last 100+ years, from the fairly dry (Alfred Dunhill's "The Pipe Book") to the too-trendy-to-be-of-any-use (G. Cabrera Infante's "Holy Smoke"). Burns's "The Smoke of the Gods" is hardly dry; the book can be highly enjoyable to read, especially in the first half. If you're looking for an apparently well-researched history of tobacco -- with a particular focus on its social impact -- from its earliest whiffs, the first half of the book delivers better than perhaps any other book I've read. But it starts to falter once the timeline reaches the late 1800s. And unless you're interested only in the history of the cigarette -- and, then, only in the health/quitting discussion or the advertising impact -- you might as well stop once the book reaches the 1950s. From that point on, the discussion completely ignores the Cuban tobacco embargo, the entire subject of pipe smoking (including the sudden blossoming of boutique tobacco blenders that began in the 1990s and continues today), and the cigar resurgence that took hold in the 1990s. One could finish this book believing that pipe smoking had vanished and that no one really smokes cigars anymore. In fact, while pipe smoking's numbers are tiny (by comparison with cigarettes), there has, perhaps, never been so many artisan pipe makers (selling pipes in the $250-$1,000+ range) and pipe-tobacco blenders in existence as there are right now. In addition, dedicated cigar bars continue to exist throughout the country, in cities big and small. It actually would have been nice for Burns to consider why those facts are true, what tobacco delivers (besides nicotine addiction, which is largely irrelevant for pipe/cigar smokers) that continues to earn it a place in some people's lives. I had no expectation that this would be a book by a tobacco consumer. I was not looking for a modern apologia. But it seems that Burns's perspective was completely skewed once the health debate surrounding cigarette smoking entered the picture. I would have appreciated a book that truly cast its eye at the *whole* social picture surrounding the continuing use of tobacco. Finally, it must also be said that, while Burns begins the story in South America, he is really aiming at a U.S.-based readership; once tobacco makes its way from the Americas to Europe and back again, the rest of the world's tobacco use is almost completely disregarded.

good anecdotal history of tobacco by Allen Stenger (Alamogordo, NM USA)

3 Stars
October 19, 2007
This is an interesting, amusing, and well-written anecdotal history of tobacco. It focuses on the good old days when nearly everybody liked smoking, and essentially ends its coverage with the 1964 Surgeon General's report "Smoking and Health" that starting turning public opinion against tobacco. There's a short epilog that covers developments since then. There's not much analysis here, and only a few glimpses behind the scenes into the workings of tobacco companies and their marketing. Other good books that offer a more in-depth look at cigarettes, especially the battles over smoking, are Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris and The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America.

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