"The Smoke of Freedom – How a nephew of Freud taught women to smoke" dissects one of the most cynical and successful marketing campaigns in history. In the 1920s, it was taboo for women to smoke in public. The American Tobacco Company wanted to double its market. They hired Edward Bernays, the father of Public Relations and Sigmund Freud's nephew. Author Edward Ash details Bernays' strategy. Using psychoanalysis, he branded cigarettes not as nicotine sticks, but as "Torches of Freedom"—phallic symbols of male power that women could challenge by smoking. He staged a protest at the Easter Parade in New York, where debutantes lit up for the cameras. "The Smoke of Freedom" is a terrifying look at how deep psychological desires (like emancipation) can be hijacked to sell toxic products. It is the origin story of modern spin, showing that if you can change the cultural narrative, you can sell death as liberty.