About the Author

Sander L. Gilman is Distinguished Professor of the Liberal Arts and Medicine at the University of Illinois, Chicago, USA. A cultural and literary historian, he is the author or editor of over sixty books, including Health and Illness: Images of Difference (Reaktion Books, 1996), and Franz Kafka (Reaktion Books, 2005). Zhou Xun is ESRC Research Fellow in the History Department at SOAS, University of London, and the author of Chinese Perceptions of the 'Jews' and Judaism: A History of the Youtai (2000)

Reviews

This ... fascinating book has opened my eyes... -- Beryl Bainbridge The Times As with the best histories Smoke paints a vivid picture of times past into which smoking itself is just a lure. Glasgow Herald Smoke has many splendid and absorbing illustrations - pictures on nearly every page that range from smoking film stars, early advertising posters and ornate carved pipes, to beautiful full-colour reproductions of Western and Oriental art Sunday Telegraph There is ... an undeniable pleasure to be taken in Smoke's copious visual material -- Jonathan Meades London Evening Standard A remarkable collection of over 30 essays ... it is beautifully produced and profusely illustrated ... It is a real pleasure to recommend a book of true anthropological range and seriousness, conjuring, like the perfect smoke ring, the history of a universal human practice at a time when the issues raised ... are at the forefront of current world-wide debates on health policy and social safety. British Medical Journal