Description
Book SynopsisHow corporate denial harms our world and continues tothreatenour future. Corporations faced with proof that they are hurting people or the planet have a long history of denying evidence, blaming victims, complaining of witch hunts, attacking their critics' motives, and otherwise rationalizing their harmful activities. Denial campaigns have let corporations continue dangerous practices that cause widespread suffering, death, and environmental destruction.And, by undermining social trust in science and government, corporate denial has made it harder for our democracy to function. Barbara Freese, an environmental attorney, confronted corporate denial years ago when cross-examining coal industry witnesses who were disputing the science of climate change.She set out to discover how far from reality corporate denial had led society in the past and what damage it had done. Her resulting, deeply-researched book is an epic tour through eight campaigns of denial waged by industries defending
Trade Review"A detailed look at how corporations faced with evidence that they’re ruining the earth have found a way to distort the truth and pump out propaganda that supports their business." -- Joe Rogan, * Joe Rogan Experience *
“An exhaustive chronicle of white-collar true crime.”
* Los Angeles Review of Books *
"Succeeds in providing a fascinating, well-documented, intelligently structured and morally instructive account of some cleverly selected and patently egregious cases of precisely the kind of ‘self-deception’ and ‘hypocrisy’ that . . . have been preoccupying Western ethicists for generations."
* European Legacy *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: A Dangerous Phenomenon
1. A “More Pleasing Representation”: The Alternate
Reality Crafted by the Slave Lobby
2. “A Wonderful Stimulant”: Radium, Risk, and
Responsibility
3. “The Nut behind the Wheel”: Carmakers Avoiding
Blame for Highway Deaths
4. “How Wrong One Can Be”: Bias, Tribalism, and
Leaded Gasoline
5. “Our Free Enterprise System Is at Stake”: CFCs,
Ideology, and Manipulated Uncertainty
6. “Psychological Crutches”: Tobacco’s Mass Production
of Denial
7. “Bottom Line. Nothing Else Matters”: The Financial
Crisis and a Culture of Exploitation
8. A “Deceitful, Hysterical, Out-of-Control Rampage”:
Fossil Fuels, Climate Denial, and Distrust Building
Conclusion: Shifting the Social Norm toward
the Public Interest
Acknowledgments
Notes
Major Works Cited in Notes
Index
