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The Devil’s Playbook: Big Tobacco, Juul, and the Addiction of a New Generation by Lauren Etter, 2021
“The Devil’s Playbook is the inside story of how Juul’s embodiment of Silicon Valley’s “move fast and break things” ethos wrought havoc on American health, and how a beleaguered tobacco company was seduced by the promise of a new generation of addicted customers. With both companies’ eyes on the financial prize, neither anticipated the sudden outbreak of vaping-linked deaths that would terrorize a nation, crater Juul’s value … and show the costs in human life of the rush to riches—while Juul’s founders, board members, and employees walked away with a windfall.”

Cigarette Nation: Business, Health, and Canadian Smokers, 1930–1975 by Daniel J. Robinson, 2021

Authors document how the tobacco industry used a ‘denialist doctrine’ for forty years including “pretending ignorance of tobacco hazards, while asserting the absence of definite proof from the scientific community and spreading misinformation to maintain ignorance among the smoking public.”

Note: Both books are well documented. Critics suggest that these are just selected facts and charges to demonize the tobacco industry. Studies of business ethics recognize the tobacco industry as a corrupt and unethical enterprise. Those who find advantage from nicotine addiction suggest that the ‘big lies’ of ‘big tobacco’ should just be ignored. ‘Inconvenient truths’ of wrong-doing have been uncovered in many industries, but I believe those of tobacco companies will remain relevant as long as the lessons of history “bend towards justice” Stephen Hamann

Stephen Hamann