I’m taking a break from Falco because I realized my library wants Last Call back on Tuesday.
It’s the story of the movement which imposed Prohibition on the United States, what happened during that period, and how it was repealed. It’s full of fascinating stories about the people who built the movement, principally the Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. It shows how these two organizations perfected the idea of swinging elections at the margins, focusing on the 10% of voters who could be persuaded to vote with them rather than those already on their side (sound familiar? “Independents” v. “the base,” anyone?).
It’s also full of very colorful characters. I’m only a third of the way through and I’ve already met Adolphus Busch and Sam Bronfman, Carry Nation and Frances Willard, Andrew Volstead and Mabel Walker Willebrandt. The latter was the Assistant Attorney General in charge of enforcement of the Prohibition laws authored by Volstead and was the first (per author Daniel Okrent) or second (per Wikipedia) woman appointed to a Federal office of that level.
If you don’t know anything about the era other than Hollywood’s depiction of Eliot Ness and Al Capone, this is well worth your time.
I read that myself, after hearing Okrent interviewed by Michael Krasny, and I agree, it’s great history, very well told. And why, after all that, we thought that prohibiting all drugs was a good idea completely escapes me!
I really need to start getting these sorts of things from my library more than getting them on sale. My problem is that when I really like a book I’ll want to consult it or reread it when something in pop culture reminds me of a topic.
I always liked Okrent’s baseball books. I should give this one a try.
He’s written baseball books? Huh. Off to my library website.