Civil Warriors: The Legal Siege on the Tobacco Industry

This is one of the best books on a legal subject that I've read in many years. Readers who are looking for a squeaky clean hero in Ron Motley miss the point - - or are too mentally numb to get it. Zegart is refreshingly open about the faults of Motley, his merry band of plaintiff's lawyers and the global settlement they hammered out with the industry. The book's brilliance lies in the way gadfly Cliff Douglas is used as a foil to highlight everything that's wrong with Motley's big lawsuit approach. And Zegart has made the tale of a bunch of lawyers going after the cigarette industry truly fun, filled it with unusual and memorable characters, both major and minor, and plenty of drama - - no mean feat. The book will stay with you long after you've finished it.

I once had the opportunity to meet Dan Zegart. Ironically enough, he chain-smoked and let ashes fall over my carpet, my floor, my desk, and made little effort to use an ashtray. In person, Zegart is brilliant. His mind runs something like a pinball ricocheting off of surfaces at wild angles, racking up points and entertaining all who watch. After I met him, a professional musician friend told me he is also one of the best drummers they had ever heard. You get glimpses of a wild mind in this book -- a worthwhile read but hopefully just the first in what should be a body of great work. I am more interested in what Zegart writes or produces next. Here's a bold prediction -- Zegart could be a major voice in social analysis.

I found this book nearly as engaging as A Civil Action. Smart, inspiring, very readable, and unabashedly sympathetic to the anti-tobacco crusaders, this book was a real pleasant surprise.

Civil Warriors reads like a Grisham legal thriller, but it's non-fiction. That makes it much more important than any novelist's fantasies. The lead character may be sympathetic to some, not to others, but there's no question he's an amazing character. However, readers who are fixated on Ron Motley's story, and the greediness of some big-time trial lawyers, miss the other interesting layers of Mr. Zegart's book. The second lead character, for instance, offers a dramatic, not to mention refreshing contrast to Motley. The story of Cliff Douglas is like that of Morris Dees. He takes on big tobacco with little in the way of resources and at huge personal risk, but succeeds in driving them up the wall, and costing them billions, by quietly locating industry whistleblowers and exposing the truth in explosive front page news stories. The tales told of the whistleblowers themselves, including the mysterious "Deep Cough," Victor DeNoble and others are nothing short of amazing. The book grippingly describes their acts of bravery and conscience. I was invigorated and inspired by their stories, and I think others will be too.

If you want entertaining summer reading that will also give you the lowdown on the biggest corporate caper in the history of the United States, Civil Warriors: The Legal Siege on the Tobacco Industry is your book. Unlike other tomes written about the legal war against tobacco, all of which were produced prematurely while the tale was unfolding, this new work by investigative reporter Dan Zegart offers the whole gory picture, right up to its bitter-sweet finale. And the author does it with real style. Rarely have there been more colorful protagonists, including a gazillionaire half-crazed trial lawyer and a paradoxically angelic self-styled "guerrilla warrior." And you don't want to miss the freaked out whistleblowers and industry greed heads. The movie "The Insider" captured only a small slice of the incredible story told here. It will keep you glued to your beach chair while the kids are off frolicking in the water.