TOBACCO DAYS: A Personal Journey

by Al Fritsch, SJ

Like many of the seven million residents in Bluegrass sections of Kentucky as well as many throughout America's other tobacco-growing regions, author Al Fritsch, SJ changed his views about tobacco over time. He takes an honest look at how tobacco entered, influenced, enticed, altered, harmed and left its mark on his life as he shares TOBACCO DAYS: A Personal Journey.

Since his birth in rural Kentucky, tobacco was a part of the author’s life. This book traces changing attitudes to tobacco largely through his experiences. Fritsch grew up raising tobacco and, influenced by advertising, began smoking as a youth. He was conducting research in a chemical laboratory involving carcinogenic substances when the health effects of tobacco began to surface.

Tobacco has its own versatility, for it—the apple of the New World's Eden—is a commodity, a livelihood, a pleasure, a health risk, an addictive substance, an idol, and an experience worth narrating. Liberation from tobacco becomes redemption—a deliverance of what has been flawed. The more Fitsch proves loyal to ancestry, commonwealth, religious tradition, and personal odyssey, the greater the need to relate his tobacco journey.

Gain important insights as you immerse yourselves in his TOBACCO DAYS: A Personal Journey.