Merchants of Doubt
LC Class | Q147 .O74 2010 |
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming is a 2010 non-fiction book by American
Some of the book's subjects have been critical of the book, but most reviewers received it favorably. It was made into a film, Merchants of Doubt, directed by Robert Kenner, released in 2014.[3]
Themes
Oreskes and Conway write that a handful of politically conservative scientists, with strong ties to particular industries, have "played a disproportionate role in debates about controversial questions".[4] The authors write that this has resulted in "deliberate obfuscation" of the issues which has had an influence on public opinion and policy-making.[4][5]
The book criticizes the so-called Merchants of Doubt, some predominantly American science key players, above all
The book states that Seitz, Singer, Nierenberg and
The main conclusion of the book is that there would have been more progress in policy making if not for the influence of the contrarian "experts", who tried for ideological reasons to undermine trust in the science base for regulation.[9] Similar conclusions were already drawn, among others on Frederick Seitz and William Nierenberg in the book Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth about Climate Change (2010) by Australian academic Clive Hamilton.
Reception
Most reviewers received Merchants of Doubt enthusiastically.[11]
In The Christian Science Monitor, Will Buchanan says that Merchants of Doubt is exhaustively researched and documented, and may be one of the most important books of 2010. Oreskes and Conway are seen to demonstrate that the doubt merchants are not "objective scientists" as the term is popularly understood. Instead, they are "science-speaking mercenaries" hired by corporations to process numbers to prove that the corporations' products are safe and useful. Buchanan says they are salesmen, not scientists.[12]
Bud Ward published a review of the book in The Yale Forum on Climate and the Media. He wrote that Oreskes and Conway use a combination of thorough scholarly research combined with writing reminiscent of the best investigative journalism, to "unravel deep common links to past environmental and public health controversies".[13] In terms of climate science, the authors' leave "little doubt about their disdain for what they regard as the misuse and abuse of science by a small cabal of scientists they see as largely lacking in requisite climate science expertise".[13]
Phil England writes in
A review in The Economist calls this a powerful book which articulates the politics involved and the degree to which scientists have sometimes manufactured and exaggerated environmental uncertainties, but opines that the authors fail to fully explain how environmental action has still often proved possible despite countervailing factors.[15]
Robin McKie in The Guardian states that Oreskes and Conway deserve considerable praise for exposing the influence of a small group of Cold War ideologues. Their tactic of spreading doubt has confused the public about a series of key scientific issues such as global warming, even though scientists have actually become more certain about their research results. McKie says that Merchants of Doubt includes detailed notes on all sources used, is carefully paced, and is "my runaway contender for best science book of the year".[17]
Sociologist Reiner Grundmann's review in BioSocieties journal, acknowledges that the book is well researched and factually based, but criticizes the book as being written in a black and white manner whereas historians should write a more nuanced description. The book depicts special interests and contrarians misleading the public as being mainly responsible for stopping action on policy. He says this shows a lack of basic understanding of the political process and the mechanisms of knowledge policy, because the authors assume that public policy would follow on from an understanding of the science. While the book provides "all the [formal] hallmarks of science", Grundmann sees it less as a scholarly work than a passionate attack and overall as a problematic book.[9]
Authors
Naomi Oreskes is Professor of History and Science Studies at
See also
- Climate change controversy
- Climate change policy of the United States
- Fear, uncertainty and doubt
- Greenhouse Mafia
- Health effects of tobacco
- List of books about the politics of science
- Scientific consensus on climate change
- Manufactured controversy
- Media coverage of climate change
- Scientific consensus
- Tobacco control movement
- Tobacco industry playbook
- Tobacco politics
Other books on the same theme
- Triumph of Doubt (2020) by David Michaels
- Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand(2011) by Haydn Washington and John Cook
- Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming (2009) by James Hoggan and Richard Littlemore
- Doubt Is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health (2008) by David Michaels
References
- ^ Steketee, Mike (November 20, 2010). "Some sceptics make it a habit to be wrong". The Australian.
- ^ "Merchants of Doubt". Sony Pictures Classics. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
- ^ .
- doi:10.1146/knowable-052523-1 (inactive January 31, 2024).)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link - ^ Brown, Seth (May 31, 2010). "'Merchants of Doubt' delves into contrarian scientists". USA Today.
- ^ a b c McKie, Robin (August 1, 2010). "A dark ideology is driving those who deny climate change". The Guardian.
- ^ a b Oreskes & Conway 2010, pp. 248–255
- ^ S2CID 145249396.
- S2CID 245175824. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
- .
- ^ Buchanan, Will (June 22, 2010). "Merchants of Doubt: How "scientific" misinformation campaigns sold untruths to consumers". The Christian Science Monitor.
- ^ a b Ward, Bud (July 8, 2010). "Reviews: Leaving No Doubt on Tobacco, Acid Rain, Climate Change". The Yale Forum on Climate and the Media.
- ^ England, Phil (September 10, 2010). "Merchants of Doubt". The Ecologist. No. 16.
- ^ "All guns blazing: A question of dodgy science". The Economist. June 17, 2010.
- ^ doi:10.1511/2010.86.424 (inactive January 31, 2024).)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link - ^ McKie, Robin (August 8, 2010). "Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M Conway". The Guardian.
- ^ "Collins Literary Agency Rights Guide/March 2008" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 15, 2016. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
External links
- Official website
- Merchants of Doubt, Public Lecture (2010), ABC Radio National, January 8, 2011.