What I've Read: Last Call

It tooks weeks longer than I had hoped, but I finally conquered this mammoth, deep dive into the rise and fall of Prohibition. Being an avid drinker, this book is right up my alley and the 14 years of Prohibition (and the years before and after it) are filled with more interesting stories than I had thought, and almost none of it had to do with gangsters.

I admit that my interest in this book was mainly because I thought it would be about Capone, bootlegging, moonshining and all sorts of fun, nefariousness. But instead, this book surprised me by being filled with names, dates, legislation and lots more names, dates and legislation.

The thrust of Last Call is more about the political, business, religious and social aspects of Prohibition. It's about the sexism and racism (there was A LOT of both, believe me, and it was overt and unapologetic) that were used to make particular arguments and sell a nation on outlawing drinking. It's about the political machinery that was sweeping that took a Democratic idea like national Prohibition and in many ways forever shaped the Republican and Democratic parties when their values and political positions were almost contrary to what they are now. It's about the Canadian and foreign businessmen (and those few surviving megabrewers like Miller, Busch and Pabst) that made a fortune off illegal liquor and beer.

There is a lot to digest in Last Call. It's crazy that less than 100 years ago this nation, in an overwhelming way, voted to tell people what they couldn't do in their own homes, and then watched as everyone – rich, poor, black, white, whatever – flouted those laws in every conceivable way. It's perhaps the greatest failure in American legislative history. Anyone with a passing interest in drinking should read this just to see where we've come as a nation of alcohol consumers. Just know this: For all the hubbub about drinking today, we don't even come close to consuming as much alcohol as we did before Prohibition. Back before 1920, Americans were (on average) drinking 2.6 gallons of alcohol per person. That equates to roughly 520 bottles of beer per year, per person. Damn. The current statistics are about 2.2 gallons per year, so there's some progress. Check out this book, you'll be surprised how much you learn, even if it takes you seemingly eight months to read it.