Smoked: The Inside Story of the Minnesota Tobacco Trial

The historical significance contained in Smoked: The Inside Story of the Minnesota Tobacco Trial cannot be denied. In addition to a $7.1 billion settlement, 30 million pages of tobacco industry documents are now available to the public, and will be featured players in tobacco litigation for years to come.

Rybak and Phelps use compelling "people" stories to animate nearly every aspect of the trial. Some are obvious. The plaintiffs--Attorney General Skip Humphrey, and Andy Czajkowski, CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota--come off as symbols of political courage and tenacity as they proceed with the case despite overwhelming criticism within their respective fields.

Their attorney, Minneapolis attorney Mike Ciresi, whose flamboyance and strategic brilliance have been well-documented, exceeded all expectations as he and his team methodically deconstructed Big Tobacco, once thought to be legally impenetrable.

Some are less obvious. Big Tobacco emerges as surprisingly sympathetic when its legal team is confronted with the mystifying inhospitality of Judge Kenneth Fitzpatrick. The jurors, however, receive the book's most compassionate treatment. They forfeited four months of their lives, sometimes at great hardship, and never got the chance to deliberate and bring the trial to a conclusion.

Smoked offers all of this and more in a surprising backstage drama. Readers will follow its twists and turns to the last page.