The War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State [Paperback]

[This] fine history of Prohibition . . . could have a major impact on how we read American political history.James A. Morone, McGirrs book pivots from being a very good, tightly focused history ofProhibition to a great history of broader American politics, one that connectsto contemporary issues in a profound way. In [McGirrs] view, Prohibition was not a farce but a tragedy, and one thathas made a substantial contribution to our current miseries. Nearly a centurylater . . . the legacy of Prohibition can be seen in our prisons, teeming withpeople convicted of violating neo-Prohibitionary drug laws. Many at the timeviewed Prohibition as an outrage, and, in McGirrs view, we are missing its truemeaning if we are not outraged, tooand ready to resist its equally oppressivedescendants. McGirrs important new book . . . leaves us with a Prohibition that looks lesslike an anomaly than an eerily prescient rehearsal for the current national waron drugs. In this remarkable book, Lisa McGirr transforms our understanding of Prohibition and its legacy. Moving beyond familiar tales of speakeasies and gangland violence, she shows how this episode contributed to the expansion of the authority of the modern American state and the origins of mass imprisonment. No history could be more timely. McGirrs book, fascinating and deeply researched, offers a startlingly fresh argument for why so many of our current problemsfrom the war on drugs to mass incarcerationgrow out of Prohibition. Anyone who wants to understand the 1920s, 1930s, and 2000s should read this book. This is not just the best book ever written about the era of Prohibition; it is a landmark history of modern America. With splendid insight and illuminating details, Lisa McGirr demonstrates that the war on alcohol was the health of the state. In her revelatory new book, Lisa McGirr movesProhibition from the gin-soaked edges of the Roaring Twenties to the heart ofthe American state. [A] fascinating account of Prl³˜