Thomas Pegram's narrative account of the fight to regulate alcohol traces the moral and political offensives of the temperance advocates, and shows how their tactics and organization reflected changes in the nation's politics and social structure. The failures of prohibition enforcement shaped the attitudes of politicians ever since, offering an example of the limits of government-enforced morals. Battling Demon Rum is an intriguing tale of social...

For more than a decade starting in 1920, millions of regular Americans ignored the law of the land. Parents became bootleggers, kids smuggled illegal alcohol, and outlaws became celebrities. It wasn't supposed to be that way, of course. When Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment, prohibiting the sale and manufacture of alcohol in the United States, supporters believed it would create a better, stronger nation. Instead it began an era of lawlessness,...