Americans have always been a hard-drinking people, but from 1920 to
1933 the country went dry. After decades of pressure from rural
Protestants such as the hatchet-wielding Carry A. Nation and
organizations such as the Women's Christian Temperance Union and
Anti-Saloon League, the states ratified the Eighteenth Amendment to
the Constitution. Bolstered by the Volstead Act, this amendment
made Prohibition law: alcohol could no longer be produced,
imported, transported, or sold. This bizarre episode is often
humorously recalled, frequently satirized, and usually condemned.
The more interesting questions, however, are how and why
Prohibition came about, how Prohibition worked (and failed to
work), and how Prohibition gave way to strict governmental
regulation of alcohol. This book answers these questions,
presenting a brief and elegant overview of the Prohibition era and
its legacy. During the 1920s alcohol prices rose, quality declined,
and consumption dropped. The black market thrived, filling the
pockets of mobsters and bootleggers. Since beer was too bulky to
hide and largely disappeared, drinkers sipped cocktails made with
moonshine or poor-grade imported liquor. The all-male saloon gave
way to the speakeasy, where together men and women drank, smoked,
and danced to jazz. After the onset of the Great Depression,
support for Prohibition collapsed because of the rise in gangster
violence and the need for revenue at local, state, and federal
levels. As public opinion turned, Franklin Delano Roosevelt
promised to repeal Prohibition in 1932. The legalization of beer
came in April 1933, followed by the Twenty-first Amendment's repeal
of the Eighteenth that December. State alcohol control boards soon
adopted strong regulations, and their legacies continue to
influence American drinking habits. Soon after, Bill Wilson and Dr.
Bob Smith founded Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). The alcohol problem
had shifted from being a moral issue during the century to a
social, cultural, and political one during the campaign for
Prohibition, and finally, to a therapeutic one involving
individuals. As drinking returned to pre-Prohibition levels, a
Neo-Prohibition emerged, led by groups such as Mothers against
Drunk Driving, and ultimately resulted in a higher legal drinking
age and other legislative measures. With his unparalleled expertise
regarding American drinking patterns, W. J. Rorabaugh provides an
accessible synthesis of one of the most important topics in US
history, a topic that remains relevant today amidst rising concerns
over binge-drinking and alcohol culture on college campuses.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
(2)
