National Network for Equitable Library Service

The U.S. scientific community has long led the world in research on public health, environmental science, and quality of life issues. Scientists have produced landmark studies on the dangers of DDT, tobacco smoke, acid rain, and global warming. Yet a small but influential group within this community has actively denied these dangers. Merchants of Doubt tells how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and advisers, with strong political and industry ties, ran campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established science over four decades. Some of the same individuals who questioned global warming also denied links between smoking and cancer, coal smoke and acid rain, and CFCs and the ozone hole. Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway expose how ideology and corporate interests, aided by compliant media, have distorted public understanding of critical issues.