“Pushing Cool: Big Tobacco, Racial Marketing, and the Untold Story of the Menthol Cigarette,” a book written by Henry Putnam University Professor of History and Public Affairs Keith Wailoo has been announced as a 2022 Book Prize finalist, on behalf of the 2021-2022 Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).

Published by The University of Chicago Press, “Pushing Cool” tells the story of menthol cigarettes and how targeted racial marketing and persuasive tactics shaped the menthol buying habits and racial markets that exist across America today. Wailoo also reveals the reasoning behind continued menthol cigarette sales despite multiple claims to ban.

Wailoo has published eight other books. His writings focus on racial disparities in healthcare, cultural politics of pain and opioids, how pandemic changes societies, and the FDA’s decision to ban menthol cigarettes.

The 2022 ASALH Book Prize winner will be announced during their Black History Month Virtual Festival in February.