Jean Kilbourne and Rick Pollay - two of the world's leading experts on the marketing of tobacco products - examine how Big Tobacco has been able to harness the power of advertising to counter the influence of scientific research, shape news coverage, overcome public resistance, and maintain private profits at the expense of public health.

The 17th and 18th centuries saw the rise of European colonial empires, where trade in exotic foods abetted slavery and forced labor. Follow the conquests of the Dutch, British, and French, and grasp how the trade in a group of entirely superfluous luxury items changed the focus of the global economy.

After being kidnapped by a young Mexican gunrunner, a U.S. agent must use all his skills and training to befriend his captor and avoid certain death.

"This course explores the history of how humans have produced, cooked, and consumed food--from the earliest hunting-and-gathering societies to the present. This course examines how civilizations and their foodways have been shaped by geography, native flora and fauna, and technological innovations."--Page 1 of guidebook.

Multinational companies are aggressively marketing cigarettes to young people in developing countries, with tragic social costs. This film explores the case of Indonesia - the third largest market for tobacco products in the world. Human Costs: "If I'd known I'd get this disease I would have quit a long time ago." Ujang has terminal lung cancer. At 45, he is the victim of a habit, which is killing millions in his country. Targeted by the tobacco industry's...

Learn about the confounding life of Roger Taney, who as a young man turned his back on his family's tobacco plantation and manumitted many of his own slaves. Yet, as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, he dramatically expanded the rights of slaveholders through infamous decisions such as Dred Scott v. Sanford.

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.

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.

Shift your attention to the Chesapeake tobacco economy in the 17th century, a time when colonial law changed in a way that would promote the slave economy. First, you will meet Anthony Johnson, a freed slave who in turn held his own slaves. Then, see how Bacon's Rebellion paved the way for slave codes that changed the social order in Virginia.

Spain's empire in the New World spawned a vast commercial revolution. Learn about Spanish silver mining in South America, and agricultural riches from giant haciendas producing sugar and tobacco. Follow the transport of Spanish goods in armed convoys, and the resulting golden age of piracy, as both pirates and government-sanctioned privateers preyed on treasure-laden ships.