For 14 years in the early 20th century, the 18th amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibited “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States.”
Daniel Okrent‘s Last Call provides a fascinating narrative history of Prohibition. He explains, among other things, how people managed to drink so much despite the weight of a constitutional amendment:?”much of it was sanctioned by the Volstead Act, in the form of ‘medicinal liquor’ (doctors sold prescriptions for three bucks each), ‘sacramental wine’ (which, in some instances, was stretched to include sacramental brandy and Champagne), and ‘preserved fruit’ (aka hard cider and applejack).”
Okrent explores how “a freedom-loving people decide[d] to give up a private right that had been freely exercised by millions upon millions,” and explains how Prohibition affected trade, boat design, and the English language. Oh yes: it also led to the creation of “the first nationwide criminal syndicate, the idea of home dinner parties, the deep engagement of women in political issues other than suffrage, and the creation of Las Vegas.” He even probes the effects of Prohibition’s on abortion and the doomed Equal Rights Amendment.
Okrent is the author of several earlier books, the creator of Rotisserie League Baseball, was the N.Y. Times‘s inaugural public editor, and the founding editor of the long-gone but still-beloved New England Monthly magazine. He has agreed to answer your questions about his new book, so fire away in the comments section below. As always, we’ll post his answers in due time.
Update: Okrent responds to your questions here.
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What do you think of the theory that prohibition was engineered by Standard Oil in order to get Henry Ford to abandon ethanol as the chief fuel of his Model-T?
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what were the mental gymnastics one had to perform to rectify the ‘temperance’ movement among the religious, and the documented fact that the puritans, disciples and jesus drank like fishes? (your allusion to ‘sacramental wine’)
No pot questions here, I just want to know if you attribute the huge and growing football fanbase to the success of fantasy football.
Also, do you think that fantasy football success seeming to be more of a factor of luck contributes to its success. Or is it just the one game a week factor?
How much of our “aghastness” at Prohibition is based on fact? To hear most people talk, not a single good thing came of it. Yet I have heard anecdotal evidence that things such as domestic violence and other, often alcohol-related, issues fell off significantly.
Very simply, what is the GOOD NEWS from Prohibition? Was there really any good that came of it, or was it all a misshapen mess to from beginning to end?
I would like to add an historical anecdote. During prohibition, there was a lot of illegal gun running from Mexico to the US to support the bootlegging trade.
“Progressive” is a concept that’s been attacked by some, notably Mr. Glenn Beck. Do you consider Prohibition to have been a Progressive initiative?
Do you think that Prohibition made our economy more productive, our citizens more clearheaded, reduced domestic crime, depression and suicide, and resulted in less homelessness? Did Drunk Driving go down?
How do cntemporary dry states like Utah compare with wet states like Nevada in social progress?
It has been said that prohibition in the United States would not have come about but for the efforts of the women’s movement, but how critical were women to the repeal of prohibition?