Maddie Sykes is a burgeoning seamstress who's just arrived in Bright Leaf, North Carolina--the tobacco capital of the South--where her aunt has a thriving sewing business. After years of war rations and shortages, Bright Leaf is a prosperous wonderland in full technicolor bloom, and Maddie is dazzled by the bustle of the crisply uniformed female factory workers, the palatial homes, and, most of all, her aunt's glossiest clientele: the wives of the...

Smoking pipes are among the most commonly found artifacts at North American archaeological sites, affirming the prevalence and longevity of smoking as a cultural practice. Yet surprisingly this is the first study in historical archaeology to broadly interpret tobacco and smoking-related activities along with the clues they give about past societies. In The Archaeology of Smoking and Tobacco, Georgia Fox analyzes the archaeological record to survey...

Caffeine and nicotine are two of the most common psychoactive drugs in our society. How do they work? How dangerous are they? After reviewing how each of these drugs affects the brain - and why nicotine in particular is so addictive - Professor Polk offers several strategies to quit tobacco use.

Maggie, a single mother, moves into a new home in Brooklyn with her twelve-year old son, Oliver. Forced to work long hours, she has no choice but to leave Oliver in the care of their new neighbor, Vincent, a retired curmudgeon with a desire for alcohol and gambling. An odd friendship soon blossoms between the improbable pair. Together with a pregnant stripper, named Daka, Vincent brings Oliver along on all the stops that make up his daily routine,...