Overview

Prohibition, with all its crime, corruption, and cultural upheaval, ran its course after thirteen years in most of the rest of the country--but not in Memphis, where it lasted thirty years. Patrick O'Daniel takes a fresh look at those responsible for the rise and fall of Prohibition, its effect on Memphis, and the impact events in the city made on the rest of the state and country. Prohibition remains perhaps the most important issue to affect Memphis after the Civil War. It affected politics, religion, crime, the economy, and health, along with race and class. In Memphis, bootlegging bore a particular character shaped by its urban environment and the rural background of the city's inhabitants. Religious fundamentalists and the Ku Klux Klan supported Prohibition, while the rebellious youth of the Jazz Age fought against it. Poor and working-class people took the brunt of Prohibition, while the wealthy skirted the law. Like the War on Drugs today, African Americans, immigrants, and poor whites made easy targets for law enforcement due to their lack of resources and effective legal counsel. Based on news reports and documents, O'Daniel's lively account distills long-forgotten gangsters, criminal organizations, and crusaders whose actions shaped the character of Memphis well into the twentieth century.

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Reviews

"The backstreets and backwoods cat-and-mouse chases between law enforcement and individuals making and selling alcohol illegally are brought to life, thanks to Johnny Heller's narration.-- ""AudioFile"" O'Daniel has impressively re-created scenes from this time through excellent descriptive detail, writing, and research. -- "" Elizabeth Gritter, author of River of Hope"" O'Daniel...has written the authoritative work on alcohol prohibition in the city...with richly descriptive and thoroughly researched episodes full of colorful characters. -- ""Journal of Southern History"" O'Daniel's book is not only true crime, it is a virtual film noir in print with gangsters, bootleggers, cold-blooded killers, and corrupt officials bursting from the pages...A lively, illuminating, and fascinating read. -- ""Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi)"" The backstreets and backwoods cat-and-mouse chases between law enforcement and individuals making and selling alcohol illegally are brought to life, thanks to Johnny Heller's narration...Heller's voice is always engaging. -- ""AudioFile"""

The backstreets and backwoods cat-and-mouse chases between law enforcement and individuals making and selling alcohol illegally are brought to life, thanks to Johnny Heller's narration.-- AudioFile O'Daniel has impressively re-created scenes from this time through excellent descriptive detail, writing, and research. -- Elizabeth Gritter, author of River of Hope O'Daniel...has written the authoritative work on alcohol prohibition in the city...with richly descriptive and thoroughly researched episodes full of colorful characters. -- Journal of Southern History O'Daniel's book is not only true crime, it is a virtual film noir in print with gangsters, bootleggers, cold-blooded killers, and corrupt officials bursting from the pages...A lively, illuminating, and fascinating read. -- Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi) The backstreets and backwoods cat-and-mouse chases between law enforcement and individuals making and selling alcohol illegally are brought to life, thanks to Johnny Heller's narration...Heller's voice is always engaging. -- AudioFile

Author Information

Patrick O'Daniel is executive director of library services for Southwest Tennessee Community College. He is author of When the Levee Breaks: Memphis and the Mississippi Valley Flood of 1927; Memphis and the Superflood of 1937: High Water Blues; and Historic Photos of Memphis. He has published articles in West Tennessee Historical Society Papers. Johnny Heller is praised for his adult, noir/mystery, personal development, history, comedy, and children's book narrations. He has narrated some five hundred books and garnered a bunch of swell awards and accolades: He is a 2008, 2009, and 2011 Best Audio Book winner; a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award winner from 2008 through 2013; a 2014 Audie Award nominee for Solo Narration (Male); a 2005 and 2009 Audie Award winner; a double Audie nominee in 2012; one of AudioFile magazine's Top Fifty Narrators of the Twentieth Century; and a multiple AudioFile Earphones Award winner.

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