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Industrial-Strength Denial: Eight Stories of Corporations Defending the Indefensible, from the Slave Trade to Climate Change Hardcover – May 19, 2020

by Barbara Freese (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 85 ratings
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How corporate denial harms our world and continues to threaten our future.

Corporations faced with proof that they are hurting people or the planet have a long history of denying evidence, blaming victims, complaining of witch hunts, attacking their critics’ motives, and otherwise rationalizing their harmful activities. Denial campaigns have let corporations continue dangerous practices that cause widespread suffering, death, and environmental destruction. And, by undermining social trust in science and government, corporate denial has made it harder for our democracy to function. 

Barbara Freese, an environmental attorney, confronted corporate denial years ago when cross-examining coal industry witnesses who were disputing the science of climate change. She set out to discover how far from reality corporate denial had led society in the past and what damage it had done. 

Her resulting, deeply-researched book is an epic tour through eight campaigns of denial waged by industries defending the slave trade, radium consumption, unsafe cars, leaded gasoline, ozone-destroying chemicals, tobacco, the investment products that caused the financial crisis, and the fossil fuels destabilizing our climate. Some of the denials are appalling (slave ships are festive). Some are absurd (nicotine is not addictive). Some are dangerously comforting (natural systems prevent ozone depletion). Together they reveal much about the group dynamics of delusion and deception. 

Industrial-Strength Denial delves into the larger social dramas surrounding these denials, including how people outside the industries fought back using evidence and the tools of democracy. It also explores what it is about the corporation itself that reliably promotes such denial, drawing on psychological research into how cognition and morality are altered by tribalism, power, conflict, anonymity, social norms, market ideology, and of course, money. Industrial-Strength Denial warns that the corporate form gives people tremendous power to inadvertently cause harm while making it especially hard for them to recognize and feel responsible for that harm.

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    University of California Press
  4. Publication date
    May 19, 2020
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0520296281
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0520296282
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A detailed look at how corporations faced with evidence that they’re ruining the earth have found a way to distort the truth and pump out propaganda that supports their business." -- Joe Rogan, ― Joe Rogan Experience

“An exhaustive chronicle of white-collar true crime.”
  ― Los Angeles Review of Books

"Succeeds in providing a fascinating, well-documented, intelligently structured and morally instructive account of some cleverly selected and patently egregious cases of precisely the kind of ‘self-deception’ and ‘hypocrisy’ that . . . have been preoccupying Western ethicists for generations."  

― European Legacy

From the Inside Flap

"A must-read for anyone wanting to understand the truth about corporate-created untruths, this engaging, painstakingly researched, and elegantly written book is crucial for helping us see through profit-driven narratives designed with the explicit aim of distorting and deceiving. Industrial-Strength Denial reveals the cynicism, manipulation, and hypocrisy of corporations seeking to rationalize patently destructive (though profitable) practices, such as slavery or selling toxic chemicals, tobacco, and fossil fuels."&;Joel Bakan, author of The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power

"How much easier it would be to change the world if it weren&;t for the endless, organized lying of companies that make their money from the indefensible. This is such a useful chronicle for anyone trying to understand the shape of our world."&;Bill McKibben, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?

"This book&;s originality is in Freese&;s use of psychological theory and insights to explain corporate behavior that seems simply venal or self-serving."&;Gerald Markowitz, Distinguished Professor of History, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center, City University of New York

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of California Press; First Edition (May 19, 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0520296281
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0520296282
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 85 ratings

About the author

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Barbara Freese

Barbara Freese

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Barbara Freese is an environmental attorney and writer, with a particular focus on climate change, energy policy, and corporate social responsibility. She is a former Minnesota assistant attorney general and a former senior policy analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists, and she has represented various environmental and clean energy nonprofit groups working to protect the climate. Her first book, Coal: A Human History, is a New York Times Notable Book. Her latest book is Industrial-Strength Denial: Eight Stories of Corporations Defending the Indefensible, from the Slave Trade to Climate Change. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
85 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Kennehy
5.0 out of 5 stars My dystopian view of a brilliant and necessary book
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2020
Verified Purchase
Reading this book dragged me through many emotions. From joy to anger, from hope to despair, from believing that people can make changes to realising that we are simply the playthings of the super rich.
We created the corporate monster that has becomes stronger and less controllable with time. A construct, supported by political corruption and sustained by public apathy.
The author gives us hope- the first seven chapters indicate that truth and humanity trumps (pun intended) corporate greed, self-interest and straight out lies. Slavery, leaded petrol, Ozone destruction and of course smoking are all still with us in one form or another, but no longer hold the general public in thrall, in fact quite the opposite - leaning towards distain and even loathing. Hopefully the same will be true of the fossil fuel industry. But - and it is a very big but - will it be too late?
Will our children’s view of Utopia be, quite literally, clouded by pollution?
Or will their future be clear?
Will future generations thank us for acting in a timely manner?
I think not.
4 people found this helpful
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Richard James
5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book!!!
Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2020
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Everyone in America needs to read this book. It is written in readable layman's terms and helps put many issues facing us today in perspective.
6 people found this helpful
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sezin kiziltan
4.0 out of 5 stars great
Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2022
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What I like about this book is that while expalining the acts of ignorance and denial surrounding big corporations of the time, the author also explains the psychology behind it.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth reading
Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2020
Verified Purchase
Brilliantly written, devoured this book within a day.
3 people found this helpful
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Joshua Spodek
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, infuriating, inspiring, and page-turning
Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2020
We've all seen obfuscation, denial, ad hominem attacks, and other techniques polluting and harmful industries use to fight evidence of their often deadly results. Seeing them covered comprehensively across many industries over several centuries paints a qualitatively different and deeper story.

I couldn't stop reading the techniques applied to protect slavery, radiation poisoning, lead poisoning, predatory financiers, fossil fuel, and more -- more poignant than ever. It also tells the stories of the scientists, journalists, activists, doctors, lawyers, judges, legislators, regulators, diplomats, and others who opposed them and helped protect our lives, health, and society. It is a book of role models too.

This book helped enlighten me. As frustrating and infuriating it felt to see industries profiting from hurting people, it inspires to act. It teaches us about what humans can do and ignore when blinded by money.

Two topics missing from the book I recommend keeping in mind while reading:

1. When discussing climate today, I would include plastic, mercury, deforestation, biodiversity, overpopulation, and related environmental problems.

2. Beyond corporate people motivating corporate behavior with these denial techniques, individual people motivate their personal behavior with similar techniques. Very few Americans act personally how we'd like corporations to. I'm not talking about little things adding up, but about skills to overcome denial. If we can't overcome it personally, how can we with corporations? Or more positively, if we want to change corporations, one powerful tool to give us the skills to change them (not the only) is learning to change ourselves.
4 people found this helpful
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Daniel Patterson
5.0 out of 5 stars illuminating but a bit depressing
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2020
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Yet another window into human weakness.
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Top reviews from other countries

Eric Muñoz
5.0 out of 5 stars Bien
Reviewed in Spain on July 7, 2022
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