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Ashes to Ashes

The History of Smoking and Health

Stephen Lock, Lois Reynolds and E.M. Tansey

Future historians will wonder why, despite the risks, society persisted in its warm relationship with the cigarette; by the end of the century global consumption was still rising. The 1995 symposium at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine not only examined tobacco's connection with health, but the varied attitudes towards smoking, which have included regarding it as 'manly', relaxing, fashionable - and decadent. A particular feature was a witness seminar attended not only by those who had made the initial discovery but by those with a crucial role in promoting public awareness of the dangers. And, as shown in this book, we still cannot escape the paradox that, while a considerable proportion of a country's population is hooked on the cigarette, the tobacco industry and the government are equally addicted to the profits and tax revenues it generates.

The Wellcome Institute Series in the History of Medicine provides a regular and active forum fot the publication of research into the history of medicine and health care in all their brances in various cultures and all time periods.