{{short description|American journalist and writer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = William Frank Longgood | image = William Longgood.png |birth_date = September 12, 1917 |birth_place = St. Louis |death_date = August 9, 2000 |death_place = Cape Cod | occupation = Journalist, writer}}
'''William Frank Longgood''' (September 12, 1917 – August 9, 2000) was an American journalist and writer known for the controversial book ''Poisons in Your Food''.
==Biography==
Longgood was born in St. Louis.<ref name="Brennan 1999">Brennan, Elizabeth A; Clarage, Elizabeth C. (1999). ''Who's Who of Pulitzer Prize Winners''. Oryx Press. p. 392. {{ISBN|1-57356-111-8}}</ref> He graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism in 1940. Longgood worked as a salesman and writer for radio stations in Niagara Falls, New York during 1940–1942.<ref name="Fischer 2002">Fischer, Heinz Dietrich; Fischer, Erika J. (2002). ''Complete Biographical Encyclopedia of Pulitzer Prize Winners, 1917–2000''. Munich: K. G. Saur. pp. 145–146. {{ISBN|3-598-30186-3}}</ref> He served in the United States Armed Forces (1943–1946). After his discharge he worked as a reporter for the ''Newark Evening News'' in New York until 1948. He worked for the ''New York World-Telegram'' (1948–1965).<ref name="Brennan 1999"/><ref name="Fischer 2002"/>
He was the text editor of ''Time-Life Books'' (1965–1968) and a teacher at the New School for Social Research in New York (1966–1972).<ref name="Brennan 1999"/> He won the George Polk Memorial award from Long Island University in 1954.<ref name="Fischer 2002"/> He also won the 1963 Pulitzer Prize.<ref name="Fischer 2002"/> He moved to Cape Cod in 1973.
==Books==
===''Poisons in Your Food''===
Longgood was concerned about antibiotics and chemical additives being inserted into foods and authored the controversial book ''Poisons in Your Food'', in 1960.<ref>Osmundsen, John A. (1960). [https://www.nytimes.com/1960/05/01/archives/chemicals-for-dinner-the-poisons-in-your-food-by-william-longgood.html "Chemicals For Dinner; The Poisons in Your Food By William Longgood"]. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved March 30, 2020.</ref><ref name="Kirchhelle 2020">Kirchhelle, Claas. (2020). [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554194/ ''Chapter 2: Picking One’s Poisons'']. In ''Pyrrhic Progress: The History of Antibiotics in Anglo-American Food Production''. Rutgers University Press.</ref> During 1950–1952 a select committee held a series of hearings to investigate the use of "Chemicals in Foods and Cosmetics" which were published by the United States Congress. The hearings provided a basis for the book.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Carstairs, Catherine|year=2014|title=Our Sickness Record Is a National Disgrace: Adelle Davis, Nutritional Determinism, and the Anxious 1970s|journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences|volume=69|issue=3|pages=461–491|doi=10.1093/jhmas/jrs057|jstor=24631708|pmid=23011464|s2cid=30471126}}</ref>
Longgood stated that antibiotic residues were "vitamin antagonists" and masked disease in slaughtered animals.<ref name="Kirchhelle 2020"/> The book contains a chapter "Bug Killers in Every Bite" which states that roast beef may contain traces of aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, and lindane.<ref>''Your Roast Beef May Contain DDT and Other Nasty Poisons''. ''Independent Star News'' (June 5, 1960).</ref> It was negatively reviewed by nutritionist William J. Darby in the ''Science'' journal.<ref name="Kirchhelle 2020"/><ref name="Science 1960">{{cite journal|author=Darby, William J.|year=1960|title=Review: The Poisons in Your Food|journal=Science|url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.131.3405.979.a|volume=131|issue=3405|pages=979|doi=10.1126/science.131.3405.979|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Darby commented that the book was written from a non-scientific bias of a natural food-organic cult follower of J. I. Rodale and suggested that it will "no doubt be welcomed by those who believe with him that the public is the victim of a giant conspiracy joined in by the Food and Drug Administration, the American Medical Association, the "big chemical companies" and, apparently, scientists in general– a charge so ridiculous that it serves only to be ignored."<ref name="Science 1960"/> Longgood replied in a letter to ''Science'' stating that the review was an "attack" and had damaged sales of his book because the Manufacturing Chemists' Association had sent reprints of the review to newspaper editors.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Longgood, William F.|year=1960|title=Food Additives|journal=Science|url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.132.3420.156|volume=132|issue=3420|pages=156–158|doi=10.1126/science.132.3420.156|pmid=17775762|bibcode=1960Sci...132..156L|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
The book was criticized for citing dubious sources such as Royal Lee of Milwaukee who was convicted for fraudulent claims and Adelle Davis.<ref>Stare, Frederick J; Myers, Madge L. ''Food Poison Drive is Called Fraudulent''. ''Middletown Daily Record'' (May 12, 1960).</ref> Nutritionist Frederick J. Stare included ''Poisons in Your Food'' in a list of least desirable books on nutritional quackery.<ref>Stare, Frederick J. (1964). ''Health Frauds and Quackery''. In [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951d03548320m&view=1up&seq=48 ''Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Frauds and Misrepresentations Affecting the Elderly of the Special Committee on Aging United States Senate Eighty-Eighth Congress Second Session Part 3'']. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 297</ref>
The book was positively received outside of the scientific community. There is evidence that Rachel Carson was familiar with Longgood's book. In 1960, Carson commented in a letter to Marjorie Spock, "It is too bad that Mr. Longgood is having such rough going with his book, although I suppose not surprising. His reporting of the trial would automatically make him a target of the New York State Department of Agriculture."<ref>{{cite journal|author=Paull, John|year=2013|title=The Rachel Carson Letters and the Making of Silent Spring|journal=SAGE Open|volume=3|issue=3|pages=1–12|doi=10.1177/2158244013494861|doi-access=free}}</ref>
===''The Darkening Land''===
Longgood authored ''The Darkening Land'' in 1972 which received positive reviews.<ref name="Puleston 1973">{{cite journal|author=Puleston, Dennis|year=1973|title=Reviewed Work: The Darkening Land by William Longgood|journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology|volume=48|issue=2|pages=380|doi=10.1086/407659}}</ref><ref>[https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/william-longgood-2/the-darkening-land/ "The Darkening Land"]. ''Kirkus Reviews''. Retrieved March 30, 2020.</ref> The book documented how humans have polluted the land, sea, and air. Environmentalist Dennis Puleston positively reviewed the book in ''The Quarterly Review of Biology'' commenting that "among the spate of recent books decrying the environmental deterioration of Planet Earth, this work stands out from the rest as the most comprehensive and well-documented indictment of man's treatment of his natural world."<ref name="Puleston 1973"/>
==Selected publications==
*''Suez Story: Key to the Middle East'' (1957) *''The Pink Slip'' (1959) *[https://archive.org/details/PoisonsInYourFood/mode/2up ''Poisons In Your Food''] (1960, 1971) *''Talking Your Way to Success'' (1962) *''Ike: A Pictorial Biography'' (1969) *''The Darkening Land'' (1972) *''The Queen Must Die: And Other Affairs of Bees and Men'' (1985) *''Voices from the Earth: A Year in the Life of a Garden'' (1991)
==See also==
*Beatrice Trum Hunter *Alfred W. McCann
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Longgood, William}} Category:1917 births Category:2000 deaths Category:20th-century American journalists Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:American non-fiction environmental writers Category:George Polk Award recipients Category:Missouri School of Journalism alumni Category:Pseudoscientific diet advocates Category:Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting winners Category:Writers from St. Louis Category:20th-century American male writers Category:20th-century American male journalists