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They Satisfy: The Cigarette in American Life
They Satisfy The Cigarette in American Life Author:Robert Sobel In the 1880's cigarettes were only smoked in this country by eastern dandies, immigrants, and poor people looking for a cheap smoke. No "real" man would touch them; they stuck to cigars and plug. And, of course, women were out of the question. But over the next century, smart marketing, a boom in advertising, and changes in America... more »n culture, especially in its pace and class structure, have made cigarettes as basic to American life as apple pie, if not more.
Robert Sobel traces the course of this meteoric rise -- from the 1880s when Americans bought only 14 million cigarettes at ten for ten cents, including picture cards of leading actresses in enticing poses, to the 1970s when they snapped up 600 billion at about four times the prices. He portrays the business leaders who paunched this success, including "Buck" Duke, the most powerful southern entrepreneur after the Civil War and Albert Lasker, an advertising wizard.« less