First published 2010
Merchants of Doubt exposes a troubling pattern: where industry interests clash with scientific consensus, a small group of influential contrarians will manufacture uncertainty to block progress. Tracing this strategy from tobacco to climate change, the book reveals how a network of think tanks and industry front groups have successfully delayed action on public health and environmental issues for decades. Oreskes and Conway show how these "merchants of doubt" have subverted the American public's understanding of scientific fact, with profound consequences for us all.
Genres: political-science, environment, non-fiction, climate-change, activism, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: deception, social-change
274 pages · Hardcover · Bloomsbury Press