Ardent Spirits PB

By John Kobler

Book Overview

"This is first-rate popular history, full of anecdotes and vivid personalities, with a compelling narrative."--Smithsonian

Ardent Spirit covers the full range of the temperance idea in America, beginning in the early seventeenth century and continuing through the prohibition years, 1919-1933. Using a wide variety of sources, Kobler quotes the amusing and often startling comments relating to the efforts of prohibitionists and lawmakers, so that the speakeasies, the rum-running, the bootleggers, and the gang wars all come vividly to life. Here too are portraits of eccentrics, instant millionaires, law enforcement officers, and murderers-all part of the Noble Experiment which proved to be one of the most tragicomic sagas in American history.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 030680512X
• ISBN13: 9780306805127
• Release Date: March 1993
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 386 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.2"