Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition

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Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition

3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 · rating details · 2,694 ratings · 483 reviews

A brilliant, authoritative, and fascinating history of America’s most puzzling era, the years 1920 to 1933, when the U.S. Constitution was amended to restrict one of America’s favorite pastimes: drinking alcoholic beverages.

From its start, America has been awash in drink. The sailing vessel that brought John Winthrop to the shores of the New World in 1630 carried more bee...more A brilliant, authoritative, and fascinating history of America’s most puzzling era, the years 1920 to 1933, when the U.S. Constitution was amended to restrict one of America’s favorite pastimes: drinking alcoholic beverages.

From its start, America has been awash in drink. The sailing vessel that brought John Winthrop to the shores of the New World in 1630 carried more beer than water. By the 1820s, liquor flowed so plentifully it was cheaper than tea. That Americans would ever agree to relinquish their booze was as improbable as it was astonishing.

Yet we did, and Last Call is Daniel Okrent’s dazzling explanation of why we did it, what life under Prohibition was like, and how such an unprecedented degree of government interference in the private lives of Americans changed the country forever.

Writing with both wit and historical acuity, Okrent reveals how Prohibition marked a confluence of diverse forces: the growing political power of the women’s suffrage movement, which allied itself with the antiliquor campaign; the fear of small-town, native-stock Protestants that they were losing control of their country to the immigrants of the large cities; the anti-German sentiment stoked by World War I; and a variety of other unlikely factors, ranging from the rise of the automobile to the advent of the income tax.

Through it all, Americans kept drinking, going to remarkably creative lengths to smuggle, sell, conceal, and convivially (and sometimes fatally) imbibe their favorite intoxicants. Last Call is peopled with vivid characters of an astonishing variety: Susan B. Anthony and Billy Sunday, William Jennings Bryan and bootlegger Sam Bronfman, Pierre S. du Pont and H. L. Mencken, Meyer Lansky and the incredible—if long-forgotten—federal official Mabel Walker Willebrandt, who throughout the twenties was the most powerful woman in the country. (Perhaps most surprising of all is Okrent’s account of Joseph P. Kennedy’s legendary, and long-misunderstood, role in the liquor business.)

It’s a book rich with stories from nearly all parts of the country. Okrent’s narrative runs through smoky Manhattan speakeasies, where relations between the sexes were changed forever; California vineyards busily producing “sacramental” wine; New England fishing communities that gave up fishing for the more lucrative rum-running business; and in Washington, the halls of Congress itself, where politicians who had voted for Prohibition drank openly and without apology.

Last Call is capacious, meticulous, and thrillingly told. It stands as the most complete history of Prohibition ever written and confirms Daniel Okrent’s rank as a major American writer.(less)

Paperback, 468 pages

Published May 31st 2011 by Scribner (first published April 30th 2010)

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Dec 30, 2010 Andrew rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A really interesting history of the part of prohibition we usually don't hear about it. Most prohibition documentaries/histories focus on the "What happened" rather than the "How it got this way" - which is the particular province that Okrent narrates. It's full of windbags, stump speakers, racists, politicos, and marginal figures who used temperance and the adjective "dry" to secure a national stage and temporary power. Most tellingly, as Okrent ironically notes, popular history whitewashed ove...more

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Jan 20, 2012 Otis Chandler rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: american-history, nonfiction, history

This is a fascinating glimpse into American history, of which I was largely ignorant - well worth a read. I had no idea prohibition lasted 14 years! My only criticism is the author spent way too much time on the politics of prohibition - that could have been cut by half.

The bottom line of prohibition is that is was a massive failure. It singlehandedly created organized crime, cost the government lots of money in lost taxes and enforcement, and failed to stop pretty much anyone from drinking.

It...more This is a fascinating glimpse into American history, of which I was largely ignorant - well worth a read. I had no idea prohibition lasted 14 years! My only criticism is the author spent way too much time on the politics of prohibition - that could have been cut by half.

The bottom line of prohibition is that is was a massive failure. It singlehandedly created organized crime, cost the government lots of money in lost taxes and enforcement, and failed to stop pretty much anyone from drinking.

It did have some upside though. Americans had a drinking problem and definitely drank less overall during prohibition, and even afterwards. But more importantly prohibition helped transform American culture. Prohibition coincided with massive immigration and population growth, which all happened in the cities. It was really a battle between urban culture and rural culture. It particularly didn't make sense in urban culture, and people rebelled, giving us "the roaring 20's". Prohibition helped us go from a stay at home culture to one where it was acceptable to go out and consume liquor.

Prohibition gave us income tax. The Anti-Saloon League (ASL), which was the organization that pushed prohibition through, pushed income tax through first because the government couldn't approve prohibition without finding an alternate source of revenue for the massive amount of tax money (30% of federal revenue) it made on liquor.

Many businesses got their starts in prohibition. Walgreens went from 20 to 525 stores during prohibition, because of the legal loophole that medicinal liquor was allowed, so drugstores were a major source of liquor sales. Coca Cola saw sales triple. The entire ecosystem of Nassau and the Bahamas was created. Sam Bronfman, the largest bootlegger in Canada, turned his operation into a legitimate business afterwards, owning many major liquor brands under the Seagrams brand.

The major failing of prohibition, and the reason it was eventually repealed, was the organized crime. Al Capone was the poster boy, but all the major mafia families got their start bootlegging, then got organized, then went on to bigger and better criminal activities. Yes it gave us Las Vegas, but it wasn't a good thing. If anything, this is the argument for the legalization of Marijuana (though there are other factors there).

In the end I think that prohibition was a bad idea because it was the government trying to tell Americans how to live. Individuals have to take responsibility for themselves.
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Mar 10, 2013 Bruce MacBain rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When Wayne B. Wheeler died in 1927, an obituary in the Washington Post stated, “No other private citizen of the United States has left such an impress upon national history.” Wayne who? Well, Mr. Willard was for a decade the chief lobbyist for the Anti-Saloon League and, indeed, politicians quaked whenever this small, unprepossessing man entered the room.

But Wheeler is not the only prohibition-era titan to have utterly vanished from our national memory. There was Frances Willard, “immortal foun...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The meat of the book, which chronicled the years of prohibition, was fascinating. The unintended consequences included the explosion of speakeasies and "home parties" and provided the first consistent opportunity for men and women to gather and drink (the saloon culture of pre-1920 was exclusively male; women drank, but at home, on the sly). It also included poisonous mixes of industrial alcohol that wreaked havoc, even death, upon those who drank it. The mix of profiteers, from the obvious (Cap...more

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Mar 10, 2013 Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you're interested in 20th Century American History, chances are good that you'll like this book. Okrent succinctly provides all of the reasons for the passage of the 18th Amendment (i.e., Prohibition), which went into effect in January 1920. These reasons included the women's suffrage movement, strong anti-immigrant / nativist sentiment, the passage of the 16th Amendment establishing the income tax (and thereby minimizing the need for tax income from alcohol sales), and the anti-German attitu...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Ryandake rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

this review refers to the audiobook version.

how can you take a subject as fun as prohibition and make it kind of... boring? focus relentlessly on the legislative aspects of it.

i got this book hoping to find out about how people actually lived with prohibition--how they procured their jollies or not, who went to jail, how you make bathtub gin... but alas, i was at least 70% disappointed.

the book is quite full of statistical data, which in its way is pretty enlightening--the quantities of booze y...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Joe Donatelli rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It is difficult to believe there was a time when it was illegal to make, transport or sell alcohol for consumption in the United States. It’s like saying, “Do you remember that decade when it was illegal to play baseball?” Or, “Do you recall when the government banned sex?” Or, “Do you remember when everyone in America who wanted to go to the beach was forced to go to the empty reservoir?” From 1920 to 1933 selling beer to hardworking Joes (all men before the year 1946 were named Joe) could land...more

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Sep 17, 2012 Matthew rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As someone who likes to view himself as an intellectually honest historian and political geek, I felt obligated to read this book since I knew it would give me the insights I needed to gain a real understanding of how prohibition actually happened...I actually, had preferred blaming it on the uptight evangelical midwestern and southern protestants who were fearful of catholics and immigrants. And while those folks certainly led the way, and often, for those reason, Okrent makes clear that consti...more As someone who likes to view himself as an intellectually honest historian and political geek, I felt obligated to read this book since I knew it would give me the insights I needed to gain a real understanding of how prohibition actually happened...I actually, had preferred blaming it on the uptight evangelical midwestern and southern protestants who were fearful of catholics and immigrants. And while those folks certainly led the way, and often, for those reason, Okrent makes clear that constitutional amendments don't happen without an incredible lobbying effort necessary for building broad coalitions...amazing to think about in our age of obstructionism and gridlock. The most important points Okrent makes is not just how that coalition was formed, (and it is amazing because we are talking some very strange bedfellows: abolitionists, suffragettes, and the KKK) but how solidly bipartisan it was, and most surprisingly to me: how its overall effect was rather beneficial to society despite how draconian and despite its ultimate failure.

Part of the reason that prohibition was able to create and sustain such a broad coalition for so long was because drinking in the United States was completely out of control, and it WAS contributing to the fouling of cites and the destruction of families and that is why you had everyone from settlement houses to women's suffrage advocates, supporting prohibition: "By 1830, American adults were guzzling, per capita, a staggering seven gallons of pure alcohol a year...In modern terms those seven gallons are the equivalent of 1.7 bottles of a standard 80 proof liquor per person, per week--nearly 90 bottles a year, for every adult in the nation, even with abstainers factored in...multiply what Americans drink today, by three, and you'll have an idea of what much of the nineteenth century was like." And if all of this seems too early a time period, that is because our perspective has been distorted by the era that we associate with prohibition, namely the 1920's. The amount of liquor consumed in the 19th century is important to help give people an understanding of where the prohibition movement came from, and how long they had been fighting and building the coalition. Abolitionists found it to be the next good crusade as it was the next form of enslavement society needed to rid itself of. Suffragettes saw it as part of a broader attempt to empower women by eliminating the drunk, abusive husband from the household who is all too often blowing the grocery money down at the neighborhood saloon. By the time we reached the industrial age, with horrible working conditions, and sickeningly cramped tenement houses, it is any wonder the men want to spend their off hours at the bar?

Yes, folks, we drank lots of booze, and often time for valid reasons, but the impact of that was also violence and filth, (some of the saloons had troughs at the base of the bar so drinkers would never have to move off their stools to relieve themselves). Like the movie studios that pay local theaters to show movies, distillers and brewers (yes like Busch) had the national power and economic clout to support local saloons and fight to keep them from having to obey local regulations for sanitary conditions and operating hours...

All of this is significant because by the time you finish the book (which has an interesting ending in that it seems to suggest that Joseph Kennedy was actually NOT a bootlegger) you see that despite the misguided components of much of the prohibition movement; despite its utter failure, it DID seem to make us understand that while we did have the right to enjoy a drink, we also learned that with that right came responsibility...responsibility to our families, to our communities, and to ourselves, and that we drink far less today, as a result of that understanding, and that moderation is not such a bad thing. (less)

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Aug 06, 2012 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

This history of Prohibition is especially enjoyable because of the author's sense of humor, which I would call dry, except that this book is all about the battles between rascally, pro-liquor "wets" and frequently schoolmarmish "drys." In this context, I'd have to call Okrent's humor wet, which is understandable given that most modern people consider Prohibition to have been one of America's all-time worst ideas.

The movement for Prohibition made for some odd bedfellows. It came hand-in-hand with...more This history of Prohibition is especially enjoyable because of the author's sense of humor, which I would call dry, except that this book is all about the battles between rascally, pro-liquor "wets" and frequently schoolmarmish "drys." In this context, I'd have to call Okrent's humor wet, which is understandable given that most modern people consider Prohibition to have been one of America's all-time worst ideas.

The movement for Prohibition made for some odd bedfellows. It came hand-in-hand with women's suffrage, but it was also promoted by the Ku Klux Klan as a part of an overall anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-urban movement. The anti-alcohol alliance made friends of progressives hoping to save the urban underclass from themselves and outright racists who said depriving black men of alcohol would protect white women's virtue. The book discusses how there was an international "delirium anti-alcoolique" in the 1920s (I wish there was more on that) but this strange confluence of American groups explains why this was the country where the delirium was put in the Constitution.

Prohibition makes a fundamentally amusing topic because it combines two happy strains in American culture: celebrating our ingenuity, and making fun of hypocrites, especially those in politics. This story has plenty of both, from the scofflaws* who marketed "sacramental" champagne and crème de menthe to passionately dry politicians caught returning from abroad with rum leaking out of their suitcases.

Here's a typical story:

Ohio, so often the trailblazer in novel applications of dry theory and practice, attained a dubious pinnacle in its pursuit of lawbreakers. Small towns and villages were authorized by law to operate "liquor courts" run by local officials... The law also directed that more than half the revenue from fines was paid out to the presiding official and the town. But what gave the Ohio system its special piquancy was a provision... granting each liquor court jurisdiction not just within its own village limits, but anywhere in its county. This brought out the entrepreneurial gene in many local officials, like those presiding over the tiny community of North College Hill, whose 1,104 residents happened to share Hamilton Country with the heavily German, thoroughly wet, and very large city of Cincinnati. Like a land-bound privateer, Mayor A.R. Pugh personally led North College Hill's raids into neighboring jurisdictions, netting more than $20,000 in revenue... in one period of less than eight months. The mayor knew he could count on the cooperation of the town prosecutor and the town judge, because he held both of those jobs, too.

Okrent shows how the Anti-Saloon League marshaled its forces to push through an amendment before any redistricting could be done based on the 1920 census, which would have given much stronger representation to urban areas with many immigrants, regions that were mostly pro-alcohol. Then, he shows how a decade of lawlessness turned the tide of popular opinion against Prohibition--aided by a coterie of multimillionaires who wanted to restore high taxes on liquor so as to reduce or abolish the hated income tax.

This gets a fifth star because it sheds so much light on contemporary politics, without any overt effort on Okrent's part to make the connection. On the flip side, the book draws all sorts of unexpected connections between the 1920s and the present day, attributing, for example, our enduring affinity for southern Italian food to Prohibition-era restaurants where you could order homemade pasta--and homemade wine.

Recommended for anyone who likes American history and especially for those who enjoyed The Poisoner's Handbook, which is similar in spirit but actually does not overlap very much, content-wise.

* A word coined during Prohibition, not to give away all the good factoids.(less)

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Jun 09, 2012 Erika Nelson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of the marks of a great book for me is if I find myself wanting to share information in it with somebody else. So riveting was this book that I wanted to share tidbits every few pages, if not more often. This book discusses the passage of prohibition, the effects of the ill-fated amendment, and the events that finally led to repeal. Through it a remarkable tale of audacity unfolds as the cause of temperance managed to win the day in a country that drank heavily. Out-sized personalities emerg...more

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Jan 25, 2012 Tim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A great history book. Entertainingly written with many humorous stories, Okrent illustrates the biggest legislative failure in U.S. history and the change it brought upon society.

Details: Okrent follows the timeline of the entire Prohibition movement starting from the beginning (including the cooperation with the suffragettes) through to the successful ratification of the 18th amendment. He explains the rush before the amendment began and the many loopholes that still allowed people to drink.
I f...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Caryl Velas rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For class I began reading the book, Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent. Okrent literally takes you through every single little detail that contributes to the prohibition era. I am not exaggerating when I say that. Which personally, I found to be both a strength and weakness of the book. Okrent includes so many people in the book, trying to remember every single one of them will be a daunting task. I’d guess that Okrent’s target audience was adults because it had some hu...more

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Aug 04, 2011 ***Dave Hill rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: American history buffs; people who like to drink; poli-sci majors

Shelves: audiobook, text

This is a wonderful history of the forces that led to the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act in the 20s, and then the forces that led to their eventual demise. It's decently paced, mixing personalities and facts, in an attempt to explain how it was that a country that loved to drink so much ever forbade itself from doing so.

Some of the best bits have to do with the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment. While we tend to think of the "Dries" as monolithic, instead they represented a remarkab...more

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Jul 31, 2011 Jim Leffert rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Exhaustive and entertainingly written, this history of Prohibition is sure to provide meaty material for American history buffs although general readers may find it a bit overlong. We learn how widely varied forces in American society, ranging from Progressives to the Ku Klux Klan, joined forces to pass the Eighteen Amendment and the Volstead Act to make America dry and thirteen years later, how forces and circumstances, including a push by America’s industrial barons, finally undid this policy....more Exhaustive and entertainingly written, this history of Prohibition is sure to provide meaty material for American history buffs although general readers may find it a bit overlong. We learn how widely varied forces in American society, ranging from Progressives to the Ku Klux Klan, joined forces to pass the Eighteen Amendment and the Volstead Act to make America dry and thirteen years later, how forces and circumstances, including a push by America’s industrial barons, finally undid this policy.

Readers will find food for thought, first of all in the wildly optimistic predictions of Prohibition advocates, who completely misjudged the consequences of outlawing alcoholic beverages, and in the description of the single-issue political tactics that Prohibition proponents pioneered, which are now standard procedures for the NRA and other pressure groups.

Okrent also recounts how large numbers of people violated the law, how the vast underground economy deprived the government of a source of tax revenue, and how various groups, including some farmers, became unlikely advocates for lax enforcement of prohibition laws because bootlegging had become a critical part of their local economy. The similarities to today’s situation with marijuana are striking. (For example, Montana farmers are currently opposing curbs on medical marijuana for similar economic reasons.) Today’s movement for the legal distribution of medical marijuana and the big business that is resulting also had its counterpart back in the 1920’s in the legal exception for sacramental wine, which made it possible for vast quantities of alcoholic beverages to be distributed under the fig leaf that the wine was for religious worship purposes. Federal enforcement of Prohibition was sporadic and meager in comparison to the scope of illicit activity; can we say that about prosecution of marijuana producers and distributors today?

Okrent keeps the reader’s attention (mostly) and induces quite a few chuckles as well. He livens up his dense historical account with colorful language and a profusion of entertaining anecdotes and quotations. He’s up there with Stacy Schiff in crafting an entertaining historical narrative.
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Jul 24, 2011 Cynthia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An outstanding, and eminently readable, history of the events and people that led up to Prohibition, and to its repeal. I had no idea so many different things had to come together for Prohibition to take place - groups as diverse as women's suffragists, proponents of an income tax, those with anti-immigration sentiment, and religious zealots came together under the leadership of a very small group of very charismatic men on a mission. It's a fascinating history of a movement. And a bit of a nigh...more

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May 11, 2011 Robert J. Sullivan added it · review of another edition

A fascinating look at the politics, personalities, tactics and social currents that led the US to ban alcohol with the 18th Amendment and to repeal the amendment with the 21st. The book demonstrates how the move to band alcohol was entwined with the women's suffrage movement, income taxes, race, ethnicity, religion, the rise of the Anti-Saloon League and single-issue pressure groups, and the sometimes bizarre alignment of supporters and detractors. The book is loaded with famous, infamous, and n...more

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Mar 16, 2011 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this book fascinating. The footnotes were copious so I assume it was well researched. Sometimes nonfiction can be dry and boring, but Okrent kept my interest throughout. There were many fascinating details like:
(1) wiretapping of citizens began during Prohibition
(2) the 1920 census redistricting was not done until June 1929 (it is usually done within 9 months of the census) because Prohibitionists knew that they would lose their clout in Congress when more congressional seats went to the...more

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Feb 21, 2011 Judy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an amazing book about Prohibition, a unique period in American history. From 1920 when the 18th Amendment went into effect until 1933 when it was repealed, the United States was awash in illegal alcohol and legal alcohol that found its way through loopholes in the Volstead Act--the enabling legislation of the amendment. There is an examination of the forces that led to the adoption of the 18th Amendment--a political alliance between such divergent forces as the growing anti-German sentim...more

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Jan 05, 2011 Persephone rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: smarty-books

This book was very interesting but also very information-heavy. I would recommend this book as one to read over a longer period of time. My usual habit is to read one book at a time but to get through that one book in matter of days. This book is just too meaty for that. When I was done I felt like I had had to write a couple of papers and do a final exam, it would have been as if I had just done a college-level course on Prohibition (with less retention, of course, because I rushed through it)....more

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Jan 03, 2011 John Maniscalco rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In Last Call, David Okent provides the entire history of the temperance movement, the ratification of the 18th Amendment, its turbulent 13 years of existence, and its ultimate failure. This must be considered the definative book on one of the few amendments that retricts personal liberty and the only one to have been repealed. I loved every page of it.

The United States, by any measure, was a booze soaked nation immediately after its founding. George Washington had a distillery on his estate and...more In Last Call, David Okent provides the entire history of the temperance movement, the ratification of the 18th Amendment, its turbulent 13 years of existence, and its ultimate failure. This must be considered the definative book on one of the few amendments that retricts personal liberty and the only one to have been repealed. I loved every page of it.

The United States, by any measure, was a booze soaked nation immediately after its founding. George Washington had a distillery on his estate and James Madison drank a pinto of whiskey a day. Though this was relatively normal in a time in which alcohol was a much safer option than a questionable glass of water, its adverse affects became well known in the 19th century as men drank their earnings away, abused their families, and died of alcoholism. Enter the temperance movement, initially a quasi-religious/feminist movement focused on persuading men to voluntarily give up drinking. The Womens Christian Temperance Union led the fight, only to be surpassed by Wayne Wheeler and his Anti-Saloon League (ASL), America's first powerful special interest lobby, which were committed to a forceful ban on the sale of "intoxicating beverages." The Dry forces of progressives, nativists, the Ku Klux Klan, and feminists were pitted against the equally unlikely alliance of Wet forces comprised of artistocrats, the working class, and city dwelling immigrants in the political battle over the right to drink.

This battle produced some of Amnerica's most interesting characters, ingenious innovations, and historical events that changed American culture forever. This book will provide answers to why there is such a thing as the income tax, how women obtained the right to vote, why the drys prevented congressional redistricting during the 1920s and how they achieved it, why people now order drinks by brand, how organized crime became rampant, and countless other interesting questions.

What I found fascinating was prohibition's failure was clear the moment it triumphed. Those who advocated prohibtion were always in the minority and it goes to the how truly powerful an interest group can become if it correctly organizes and masters the political system in which it operates. If anything, this book provides a lesson on how quickly liberty can be lost if those who would restrict it are not effectively opposed.

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Jun 28, 2010 Tony rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

Okrent, Daniel. LAST CALL: THE RISE AND FALL OF PROHIBITION. (2010). *****. The passage and ratification of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1919 banned the manufacture, sale, or transportation of “intoxicating liquors” in the United States. It didn’t ban drinking, though. The Amendment went into effect on January 16, 1920, and lasted until its repeal in 1933. It brought on some strange times in America, all of which are thoroughly explored in this fascinating and well-researched a...more Okrent, Daniel. LAST CALL: THE RISE AND FALL OF PROHIBITION. (2010). *****. The passage and ratification of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1919 banned the manufacture, sale, or transportation of “intoxicating liquors” in the United States. It didn’t ban drinking, though. The Amendment went into effect on January 16, 1920, and lasted until its repeal in 1933. It brought on some strange times in America, all of which are thoroughly explored in this fascinating and well-researched and well-written book. The move towards prohibition started much earlier, of course, and the seeds of its growth are followed from about 1880 onwards. There were lots of other events that helped it along, events that were not initially related to prohibition, but greased the way for it to become a law. These included the Women’s Suffrage Movement, the appearance and proliferation of automobiles, and the introduction of the income tax. The author presents some interesting facts. In 1926, the sales of bootleg whiskey was $3.6 billion. This was the equivalent of the total Federal budget for that same year – including the army, navy, etc. Because of the need for a good distribution system, i.e., ways of getting booze from where it was made to where it could be purchased and consumed. This led to cooperation among the various city or regional gangs of the underworld that became what we now call the syndicate. The efforts at enforcing the law were extensive, but, in the long run, essentially ineffectual. There are a lot of myths that have built up around personalities present during those times that the author takes care to debunk. These myths are mostly the result of the semi-truths used by Hollywood in their features. We learn the real contributions of Elliot Ness and J. Edgar Hoover. We also learn that the appellation of the term “bootlegger” to Joseph Kennedy was simply not true, and the author explains the myth arose. We re-encounter names of people active during those times that we still know today. These are people like Susan B. Anthony, Billy Sunday, Williams Jennings Bryan, H. L. Mencken, and Meyer Lansky. In all, this is an excellent history of the times and its people. there are extensive notes and an exhaustive bibliography. Highly recommended.(less)

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Jun 03, 2010 Shinynickel marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Off this awesome review: http://www.slate.com/id/2255385/pagen...

"The story of the War on Alcohol has never needed to be told more urgently—because its grandchild, the War on Drugs, shares the same DNA. Okrent alludes to the parallel only briefly, on his final page, but it hangs over the book like old booze-fumes — and proves yet again Mark Twain's dictum: "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."

...

With the passage of the 18th Amendment in 1921, the dysfunctions of Prohibition began....more Off this awesome review: http://www.slate.com/id/2255385/pagen...

"The story of the War on Alcohol has never needed to be told more urgently—because its grandchild, the War on Drugs, shares the same DNA. Okrent alludes to the parallel only briefly, on his final page, but it hangs over the book like old booze-fumes — and proves yet again Mark Twain's dictum: "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."

...

With the passage of the 18th Amendment in 1921, the dysfunctions of Prohibition began. When you ban a popular drug that millions of people want, it doesn't disappear. Instead, it is transferred from the legal economy into the hands of armed criminal gangs. Across America, gangsters rejoiced that they had just been handed one of the biggest markets in the country, and unleashed an armada of freighters, steamers, and even submarines to bring booze back. Nobody who wanted a drink went without. As the journalist Malcolm Bingay wrote, "It was absolutely impossible to get a drink, unless you walked at least ten feet and told the busy bartender in a voice loud enough for him to hear you above the uproar."

So if it didn't stop alcoholism, what did it achieve? The same as prohibition does today—a massive unleashing of criminality and violence. Gang wars broke out, with the members torturing and murdering one another first to gain control of and then to retain their patches. Thousands of ordinary citizens were caught in the crossfire. The icon of the new criminal class was Al Capone, a figure so fixed in our minds as the scar-faced King of Charismatic Crime, pursued by the rugged federal agent Eliot Ness, that Okrent's biographical details seem oddly puncturing. Capone was only 25 when he tortured his way to running Chicago's underworld. He was gone from the city by the age of 30 and a syphilitic corpse by 40. But he was an eloquent exponent of his own case, saying simply, "I give to the public what the public wants. I never had to send out high pressure salesmen. Why, I could never meet the demand.""(less)

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Oct 15, 2011 Andrew rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Where Ken Burns had to simplify the Prohibition story into three stories -- the nation of drunkards, scofflaws and hypocrites -- Daniel Okrent's book tells a much deeper story of how Prohibition came to be, the reality of life under the Volstead Act and how it was repealed. This book is rich enough in detail that it should be on the shelf of anyone interested in American history or politics, particularly because moralists always try making personal activities illegal and succeed only in driving...more Where Ken Burns had to simplify the Prohibition story into three stories -- the nation of drunkards, scofflaws and hypocrites -- Daniel Okrent's book tells a much deeper story of how Prohibition came to be, the reality of life under the Volstead Act and how it was repealed. This book is rich enough in detail that it should be on the shelf of anyone interested in American history or politics, particularly because moralists always try making personal activities illegal and succeed only in driving up government enforcement costs and making the activity more profitable.

But it is also the story of how democracy works: the 50 years that various anti-liquor forces worked to achieve Prohibition and attempt to retain it, even delaying redistricting by a decade. And, of course, the marshalling of the forces to repeal.

There are numerous surprises in the Prohibition story that shaped the modern world in ways that are not obvious after 90 years:
* the American Medical Association would oust alcohol from its list of approved pharmaceuticals in 1917, thanks to quack patent medicines. But in 1922 it would reinstate it because doctors could make a quick $3 per prescription. So alcohol went from having "no scientific value" in 1917 to using it to treat 27 different conditions, including cancer.
* exemptions in the law for home consumption and religious use increased the prices being paid for California grapes by more than 10x. During the years of 1910-1919, grapes in California brought only $9.50 to a peak of $30 per ton -- but in 1921 the price hit $105 and by 1924 it was $375, building the fortunes of Gallo, Beaulieu, Wente Brothers and George de la Tour.
* druggists were also able to reap windfall benefits because of alcohol prescriptions -- and an ample back-door business. Walgreen's expanded from 20 locations to 525 during the Twenties and always had cases of liquor in its inventory.
* Prohibitions's social changes were dramatic. As Willa Cather noted in 1924, "Nobody stays at home anymore." Gone were the male-only saloons, to be replaced by restaurants and speakeasies where men and women drank and socialized.
* how brewers used malt to keep revenues flowing throughout Prohibition. (less)

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Sep 11, 2011 Joshua Cejka rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

An unintentionally hysterical look at the neurosis of modern americans and their political leaders through the window one of the most foolhardy movements in American History. Like most good history it provides a terrific lens to view the present. The antecedents of the Tea Party with their deliriously myopic view of "the American People", the machinations of such a movement in distorting and influencing politics and political parties and the strange maneuvering of unholy confederates to achieve...more

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May 21, 2010 randy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It is somewhat rare for me to read non-fiction and even more rare to read history. Of course, I heard this author discussing his book as I drove around with NPR on, and pulled into the nearest Borders to get a copy. Time, effort and money well spent! The history of Prohibition, from earliest efforts at local option, through the 18th amendment, the era of Prohibition enforcement (or, more accurately, the lack thereof) and the Repeal movement is well researched and presented in a style that is bey...more

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Apr 27, 2011 Kathleen Hulser rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Revealing. Uncovers the power politics behind the dry, when and how the Anti-Saloon League courted the Ku Klux Klan, blocked re-apportionment so cities full of wets would not get more representatives in Congress after the 1920 Census, honed single-issue politics to reward friends and unseat enemies. A lesson in how to play American electoral game, too bad women didn't study this to pass the ERA. The tale of enforcement, or rather non-enforcement is illuminating about the chaotic division of powe...more

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Aug 09, 2010 Clif Hostetler rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

To many alive today, prohibition is best remembered as depicted in movies of Al Capone and Eliot Ness. Well, there's a lot more to it than that. There was a long history leading up to the era, and then bringing it to an end is an interesting story too.

I found the history of alcohol consumption in the U.S. to be of particular interest. See the following link to a graph showing the history of U.S. Alcohol Consumption:
LINK: U.S. Alcohol Consumption
After looking at the above graph one might wonder...more To many alive today, prohibition is best remembered as depicted in movies of Al Capone and Eliot Ness. Well, there's a lot more to it than that. There was a long history leading up to the era, and then bringing it to an end is an interesting story too.

I found the history of alcohol consumption in the U.S. to be of particular interest. See the following link to a graph showing the history of U.S. Alcohol Consumption:
LINK: U.S. Alcohol Consumption
After looking at the above graph one might wonder if our founding fathers were drunk. Up until 1839 Americans were drinking about three times the alcohol that is currently consumed per capita. This book suggests that the primary reason for the drop off after 1839 was the shift to drinking beer rather than distilled liquor due largely to German immigrants, and to the beginning of the Washingtonian Movement (proponents of temperance but not necessarily prohibition).

Another reason for high alcohol consumption then was cheap prices and abundant supply for distilled liquors. The abundant supply was caused by the farmers out west (beyond the Appalachian Mountain Range) having plenty of grain but nobody to sell it to. There was no economical way to transport the grain to eastern markets at a time before canals, developed roads and river boats. Converting a wagon load of grain into a couple jugs of liquor made shipment of a marketable product back east much more feasible. Thus there was a surplus of liquor which resulted in low prices.

Those of you who remember your American history lessons will recall President Washington's problems with the Whiskey Rebellion. That was caused by the Federal Government taxing the whiskey being brought over the mountains from the west. Alexander Hamilton justified the whiskey tax as being fair because it was a commodity that was purchased by almost everybody.

It took an incredible confluence of interests to permit the passage of the 18th Amendment. Many today may forget that it was not just a law, it was actually a part of the Constitution. Getting an amendment added to the Constitution is not an easy thing to do. Then once it's passed, getting the amendment removed is just as difficult as passage was in the first place. This books tells the history of how this all happened.

Some things I learned from this book:
1. Reapportionment as called for in the Constitution following each census did not take place following the 1920 Census until 1929. Why the delay? Everyone knew that reapportionment was going to reduce the influence of western rural states that just happened to be the strongest supporters of Prohibition.
2. Prohibition supporters included some strange bed-fellows ranging from northern progressives to the Klu Klux Klan. (The Klu Klux Klan had significant growth of members in the northern states during this era because of its anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant positions.)
3. If you were a supporter of Prohibition in 1920 you most likely were White Anglo-Saxon Protestant living in a rural part of the country.
4. If you were opposed to Prohibition in 1920 you were likely to be Catholic, of Irish or Italian ancestry, a first or second generation immigrant, and living in an urban area.
5. The Prohibition movement was a significant cause for the initiation of the income tax in the United States. It was needed to make up the difference from the lost revenue from taxing booze.

The failure of prohibition is perhaps an indication of the folly of trying to legislate morality against the will of a large portion of the population. There are still plenty of people around who still want to do it today in other ways.
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Jun 16, 2010 Bookmarks Magazine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: july-aug-2010

Okrent, who has rescued an important, relevant, and colorful chapter of American history, explores Americans' relationship with the bottle dating back to the colonial era and analyzes the long-term effects of Prohibition on everything--from the rise of the Mafia and the Ku Klux Klan to language, art, and literature. Fast-paced and fascinating, his narrative assembles a wide collection of comical stories and outrageous personalities, such as the hatchet-wielding Carrie Nation. He explodes clichés...more

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Oct 17, 2011 Caroline rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-history

This book wasn't quite what I was looking for. It's very much a political and legal history of Prohibition, and I was hoping for more of a social history.

However, that said, this is an excellent read. The author's exhaustive research and mastery of his material is evident on every page, and he still finds room for interesting anecdotes and asides - which to my mind elevates this book from what could have been a somewhat dry recounting of the years 1910-1935 to something incredibly engaging. He s...more

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Dec 08, 2010 Christopher Carbone rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Last Call is the detailed, entertaining and expansive look at Prohibition and its scattered and almost unbelievable history in America. The story begins with the best of intentions and ends with an almost embarrassed nation giving up this ghost.

The author details so many areas of the history of Prohibition: from the speakeasies, to the high seas, to the FBI, to the cities, the farms, Congress and the White House. The book details so well the ins and outs of the political movement; the actual le...more

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About Daniel Okrent

Daniel Okrent's 40-year career has encompassed nearly every form of mass media. In book publishing, he was an editor at Knopf, Viking, and Harcourt. In magazines, he founded the award-winning New England Monthly and was chief editor of the monthly Life. In newspapers, he was the first public editor of the New York Times. On television, he has appeared as an expert commentator on many network shows...more

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“alcohol consumption fell sharply at the beginning of Prohibition, to approximately 30 percent of its pre-Prohibition level,” and by the time of Repeal had risen “to about 60–70 percent of its pre-Prohibition level.” — 2 people liked it

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