The Triumph of Doubt

Reviews / Votes

[Michaels] documents not only a shocking disregard for human welfare on the part of big business, but also a co-ordinated effort to compromise the culture of knowledge itself. * Times Literary Supplement * ...chock full of good examples that were clearly researched (averaging over 30 references per chapter) and supplemented with Michaels' personal experiences. I think any scientist who wants to bridge the realm of research, policy, politics and ethics would benefit from reading this book. * JULIE POLLOCK, Chemistry World * It is so refreshing to read David Michaels' The Triumph of Doubt. He has the facts researched, vetted and thoroughly cited, and is not afraid to lay blame, call people liars and companies frauds. * San Francisco Review of Books * David Michaels opens our eyes to the methods corporations employ that bend the facts of science in order to make a profit. * Chemistry World * David Michaels is that rare combination: the fearless expert. He not only knows where the bodies are buried, he knows who buried them. The Triumph of Doubt and its predecessor, Doubt Is Their Product, are timely, readable, and essential guides for anyone seeking to understand how the corruption of science is damaging the health of everyone from football players and factory workers to soda drinkers and truck drivers-in short, anyone with a pulse. * Dan Fagin, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Toms River * David Michaels lays bare the dark money and the corporate science racket that kept the lethalities of tobacco, asbestos, lead, silica, pesticides, and scores of other life- and health-destroying products on the market and in the workplace, escaping the reach of the law. He names names of people and companies fronted by their so-called 'product defense' business and its corporate attorney enablers; delays, obfuscation, falsehood, and retaliation against ethical whistleblowers are the coins of their insidious realms. This book is written to get you angry enough to want to learn how to defend yourselves, your communities, and our vulnerable planet. Let it grip you toward detection and defiance." * Ralph Nader * As a society, it's vital we properly debate issues using data and research. The Triumph of Doubt, David Michaels's wonderfully deep dive into the well-funded war on scientific consensus and certainty, makes the stakes clear: our planet. Read this." * Adam Savage, Mythbusters * No one has done more to expose the deep corruption in American safety regulation that harms us all-and especially our kids. After spending seven years as America's chief safety regulator, David Michaels offers a beautifully crafted argument for how much more we need to do. Required-if frightening-reading for anyone who cares about a clean and safe environment for America and the world." * Lawrence Lessig, author of Fidelity and Constraint * A page-turner-one you'll wish was fiction. From hired guns to dark money, The Triumph of Doubt unravels corporations' playbook for deceiving the public through misinformation.^ * Mona Hanna-Attisha, author of What the Eyes Don't See
* The Triumph of Doubt is an industry-by-industry account of how corporations manipulate science and scientists to promote profits, not public health. Nothing less than democracy is at stake here, and we all should be responding right away to David Michaels' call for action. * Marion Nestle, author of Unsavory Truth
* It takes real courage to speak out against entrenched corporate interests and big industry. I saw that courage firsthand when I worked alongside Dr. Michaels in the Obama administration to protect workers at construction sites from cancer-causing silica dust. The Triumph of Doubt doesn't just tell the story of how we overcame the falsehoods of industry-funded studies, it shines a disinfecting light on the ways corporations obscure the truth and downplay risk to pump up their bottom line. This is a must-read." * Tom Perez, former U.S. Labor Secretary
* A compelling and necessary work for anyone interested in the truth and those who seek to bury it. Michaels details the methods used by those in power to hide the truth-and the moral bankruptcy at work when they do so." * Demaurice Smith, National Football League Players Association Executive Director * As a third-generation coal miner from a family who has suffered the deadly consequences of Black Lung, I know firsthand that worker safety should never be politicized. David Michaels's book is a must-read for business, labor and the scientific community." * Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO President
* David Michaels provides well-written evidence in his book about how corporations that produce dangerous products-tobacco, big oil, chemicals, pharmaceuticals-use 'product defense' science to sow doubt about the hazards hidden in their products to consumers. His evidence highlights the important role unbiased government scientists play in protecting the public health of Americans and our environment from exposure to toxic materials and from corporate deceit. * Senator Tom Udall
* From the pharmaceutical industry's role in the opioid crisis to the Koch brothers' climate denial apparatus, Michaels examines big industry's jarring history of manufacturing false scientific doubt in the name of profit. This is an important book that will serve as a tool in exposing corporate deceit. * Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
* Whether it's the tobacco industry, the pharmaceutical industry, or the fossil fuel industry, vested interests have repeatedly sought to attack and discredit scientific findings that have revealed the public endangerment by their products. David Michaels should know-he's been fighting the good fight for more than a decade to expose the bad actors and bring them to justice. Read this book to learn what we're up against and how to fight back. * Michael E. Mann, author of The Madhouse Effect
* Poisoning the well of public debate is the ultimate act of cynicism. As David Michaels makes breathtakingly clear, one industry after another has lied and manipulated in order to make more money, and the rest of us have borne the terrible costs." * Bill McKibben, author of Falter
* While the truth can be inconvenient, corporations and government leaders cannot continue to manufacture alternative narratives that place their interests and profits above our humanity; this culture, if left unchallenged, will result in our doom. The Triumph of Doubt reminds us that there can only be one truth." * Bennet Omalu, author of Truth Doesn't Have a Side
* Few people have done more to document disinformation about science than David Michaels. His new book is an important addition to the growing literature on doubt, disinformation, and deception. * Naomi Oreskes, author of Merchants of Doubt
* In the NFL, team doctors answer to the organization; players joke that it's like Dracula running the blood bank. It's a microcosm of what David Michaels brilliantly illuminates in The Triumph of Doubt: When corporations manipulate science and launch marketing campaigns to sow doubt, they ensure human suffering. Michaels's work is vital reading for everyone to understand these industry tactics. * Chris Borland, former NFL player
* Scientist, public servant, and passionate advocate for health and safety, Michaels has written an absorbing sequel to his path-breaking work on manufactured doubt. He documents how powerful corporations have turned 'product defense' into a new political strategy, using dark money to pummel good science and keep dangerous products on the market. A must-read in the fight to restore public trust in regulatory science." * Sheila Jasanoff, Harvard Kennedy School * Driven by scientific interest, The Triumph of Doubt is a measured but passionate argument for protecting the public from harmful substances via federal oversight." * Foreword Reviews * [An] excoriating account of the corporate denial industry... It is a brave and important book, raising the alarm about the systemic corruption of science. * Felicity Lawrence, Nature

* A tour de force that examines how frequently, and easily, science has been manipulated to discredit expertise and accountability on issues ranging from obesity and concussions to opioids and climate change. * Science * David Michaels shows that Big Tobacco's well-known denial tactics have not faded into history, but instead have become an integral part of corporate America's standard business practices. * Undark Magazine * A no-holds barred page-turner. In a series of case studies, it names names and describes how powerful players prioritize a requirement of absolute proof over precaution when it comes to exposures' impacts on human health. * Union of Concerned Scientists * [Michaels'] book is a timely, must read indictment of product defense 'science.'" * Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
* David Michaels opens our eyes to the methods corporations employ that bend the facts of science in order to make a profit. * Chemistry World * [A] close look at how powerful corporations fund junk science and misinformation campaigns in order to obscure evidence and undercut regulatory efforts." * Vox * The Triumph of Doubt is a carefully researched review of corporate-funded strategies and practices that undermine public health policies of all kinds. And while it sometimes makes one's blood boil, it is still a gripping read. * New Solutions * [An] excoriating account of the corporate denial industry.... It is a brave and important book, raising the alarm about the systemic corruption of science. * Nature *