the Scott Stein

In a nation awash in punditry, Jacob Sullum’s work--including two books and numerous articles--stands out for its clarity, rigor, and integrity. A senior editor for Reason magazine, Sullum’s syndicated column never degenerates into the partisan hackery that characterizes the op-ed form as practiced by lesser (though often more famous) writers. Students of persuasive writing would do well to study the seemingly effortless incorporation of data and the agile connection of facts that lead the reader to his conclusions. Even when Sullum points to slippery slope implications of a position or policy he’s critiquing, he avoids the sort of exaggeration that would allow readers to dismiss him. In his books, this skill is on full display. For Your Own Good: The Anti-Smoking Crusade and the Tyranny of Public Health manages to include much evidence damning the tobacco industry while still leaving readers to conclude that the claims made and the public policy advocated by the anti-smoking movement are misguided, at best, and dangerous in their implications for the future of freedom, at worst. The meticulously researched Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use is a much-needed challenge to Drug War hysteria and misinformation.