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Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America Paperback – May 1, 2011

by Edward Behr (Author)

4.1 248 ratings

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"A excellent and honest book that does not flinch at unpalatable facts."—The New York Times Book Review

From the bestselling author of The Last Emperor comes this rip-roaring history of the government’s attempt to end America’s love affair with liquor—which failed miserably. On January 16, 1920, America went dry. For the next thirteen years, the Eighteenth Amendment prohibited the making, selling, or transportation of “intoxicating liquors,” heralding a new era of crime and corruption on all levels of society. Instead of eliminating alcohol, Prohibition spurred more drinking than ever before.

Formerly law-abiding citizens brewed moonshine, became rum- runners, and frequented speakeasies. Druggists, who could dispense “medicinal quantities” of alcohol, found their customer base exploding overnight. So many people from all walks of life defied the ban that Will Rogers famously quipped, “Prohibition is better than no liquor at all.” Here is the full, rollicking story of those tumultuous days, from the flappers of the Jazz Age and the “beautiful and the damned” who drank their lives away in smoky speakeasies to bootlegging gangsters—Pretty Boy Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde, Al Capone—and the notorious St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Edward Behr paints a portrait of an era that changed the country forever.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is an excellent and honest book that does not flinch at unpalatable facts."—The New York Times Book Review

“Behr masterfully integrates family tales and expert interviews into his account of bootlegging, speakeasies, gangsterism, and racketeering.”—Library Journal

"[Behr] gives more than the usual gangsters-and-gats treatment of the era, showing how great social movements and forces converged and competed for the country's soul. Finally, he spells out prohibition's lasting effects memorably, in the process increasing understanding of American culture then and now."—Booklist

"Informative and entertaining from start to finish."—Publishers Weekly

"Prohibition is an era usually covered in a general treatise on American history: choose this title to receive much more depth and detail than most; especially if it's report facts which are needed for a school paper. Original research contributes to an in-depth survey of the origins, politics, and individuals involved in the Prohibition era's events."—Midwest Book Review

About the Author

Edward Behr was a writer, documentary filmmaker, and contributing editor of Newsweek. His books include The Algerian Problem; Anybody Here Been Raped and Speaks English?; Getting Even, a novel; the international bestseller The Last Emperor, based on the Bertolucci film; The Story of Miss Saigon, cowritten with Mark Steyn; and Hirohito: Behind the Myth. He died in Paris in 2007.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Arcade; Reprint edition (May 1, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1611450098
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1611450095
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #252,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #697 in Women in History
- #1,577 in Historical Study (Books)
- #6,834 in United States History (Books)

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4.1 248 ratings

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Must reading

Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2023

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While some individual stories are overly long, this is a well written treatise, with obvious parallels to current affairs in the United States.

One person found this helpful

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tvtv3

Excellent Source.

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2004

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PROHIBITION is a great book to read if you want to know how Prohibition came about. The first half of the book does an excellent job describing how the 18th Amendment came about and the context in which Prohibition rose. There's a lot of key historical details there. Unfortunately, placing the event in context is not something that the author does for the remainder of the work. The last half of the book describes just a few major players during the Prohibition years and the downfall of Prohibition is written more as a brief epilogue than anything else.

I found PROHIBITION to be a very interesting book. I enjoyed reading it and learned a few things. However, the subtitle of the book is "Thirteen Years That Changed America" and though he does extrapolate how those thirteen years changed America, there really isn't a whole lot in the book that really describes what went on during those thirteen years. Still it is an intersting read, especially since there are so few books out about this era of America history.

18 people found this helpful

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Glen Chern

Educational but dry

Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2016

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There is a great deal of information to absorb, but much of it is repetitive and very dry. The author spent a great deal of time focusing on a handful of individuals, including President Warren Harding. While Harding was President during the early years of prohibition, he was not a central figure in its undoing.

There were numerous typographical errors throughout the book. The editor must have slept through the reading. The errors were more annoying than dysfunctional.

4 people found this helpful

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judy slotnick

Social history at its best

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2021

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As a former history and government educator I always emphasized the social aspects of political and economic policies. It allowed students to understand the nature of why policies became part of our government. This very well written and easy to read hit that nail on the head. It's the real McCoy.

One person found this helpful

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Lee Hauser

Flawed but enjoyable

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2017

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I greatly enjoyed this account of a critical period of American history which, I think, is seriously under-reported. This book is a little dry at times, but overall is very readable. I didn't see the TV series, so I have no idea how it relates, but I found the framing story of the Remus murder trial very effective.

I'm sorry to say that the Kindle version is riddled with typos. It looks like the text was scanned and not well proof-read. Not sure why, with print books starting out as digital files anyway, this should be the case. I don't believe the errors were enough to hurt the book, but they did make me sit up and take notice.

7 people found this helpful

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Mel Ler

Enlightening

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2021

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I did not know much about this time period in American history so it was very informative. Prohibition was a disaster.

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Dr. Robert Eubanks

Insightful Facts on Prohibition

Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2017

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This book revealed a lot of information about the period of history known as prohibition. For example the level of corruption of public officials during prohibition was unprecedented. Another interesting bit of history was the term "real McCoy" came from a bootlegger boat that was very reliable. If you like early 20th century history then this is a good book to read.

5 people found this helpful

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David and Samantha

Reads like a history book

Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is very informative, but kind of makes you feel like you're sitting in history class, although this goes much deeper into it than a class ever would. There are some lessons from prohibition we still need to learn, but we are slowly waking up to the fact that we've lost the war on drugs.

2 people found this helpful

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