I really appreciated this book and the fantastic amount of detail it brings to the story of prohibition–he takes the time to set the context in the years, decades and centuries before American prohibition. As much as the gangs/crime aspect is the real headline of the era, Okrent spends just as much time explaining the political conditions that led to such a disastrous, unpopular law being enshrined as a constitutional amendment (TL;DR: bigotry, economics, and a very skilled lobbyist named Wayne Wheeler)
I'd recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in history and politics. Okrent is never preachy but I feel he has a very clear message about the folly of drug policy in general (though to my recollection he never makes this explicit.) Additionally, the book has some solid musings about the changing world of the 1920s (Movies, Women's suffrage, Jazz, etc) and how those changes were necessarily altered due to the fact that prohibition happened concurrently. Plus, some things were directly a result of prohibition, like speedboat design!
Does anyone know of any solid criticism/counterpoints to this book? I just used it as a source for a podcast series but wouldn't mind adding clarifications in the next episode.
Speaking of, my next episode will be on modern drug policy. If anyone knows of great books advocating for drug legalization or simply looking at negative aspects of the drug war, let me know! I'm currently reading "Drug Use for Grown-Ups" by Carl Hart, but I don't think it's as comprehensive a source as Last Call.
by BourbonisNeat