THE PURSUIT OF OBLIVION: A GLOBAL HISTORY OF NARCOTICS Richard Davenport-Hines Might as well not debate this thing anymore, it's pretty much acknowledged by those who matter in all camps: the War on Drugs has so far been a smashing failure. But not just the war that most think started during the last few decades with the Reagan Revolution (Just Say No already!) but the one started by Harry Anslinger last century. Yeah, that's right: more than a hundred of years gone by, and society is no closer to solving its drug use than Michael Jackson is to having any real skin left. That's probably because, as Davenport-Hines exhaustively chronicles in The Pursuit of Oblivion, humankind has been playing with mind-altering substances since it learned to crawl; in fact, it has incorporated their existence into the very fabric of its social networks. Which begs the (now) centuries-old question, "Why are we continuing to criminalize the very things that made us who we are today?" There aren't any easier answers, but at least guys like Davenport-Hines are asking the right questions. Finally.