Firebrand: A Tobacco Lawyer’s Journey

How has the tobacco industry “managed to survive decades of intense and sustained assault by the medical and scientific establishment, and from governments around the world”? In this entertaining and occasionally enraging investigation, journalist Knelman (Hot Art) seeks to answer that question through the story of a lawyer who spent a decade representing an unnamed multinational tobacco firm. The anonymous lawyer was recruited from an entertainment law office to work on the company’s “international brand protection,” sports sponsorships, and U.K. compliance issues. His experiences shed light on the industry’s sleek yet seedy corporate culture (after a tour of the company’s factory in Ireland, the lawyer, who had a fiancée, was advised to get an “Irish girlfriend” if he was going to make regular visits to the country); the challenge of meeting different health, safety, and advertising regulations around the world; the competition from Chinese counterfeiters; and the moral compromises necessary to work in an industry that was responsible for countless deaths. Throughout, Knelman fills in the gaps in the lawyer’s firsthand testimony with concise histories of tobacco cultivation and changing attitudes toward cigarettes since the 1964 U.S. surgeon general’s report linking tobacco consumption to cancer and other illnesses, as well as his own experiences as a longtime smoker. Packed with colorful insider details and nuanced analysis, this is a stimulating tell-all. (Sept.)