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This book describes and analyzes America during the "Progressive Era" - a time that saw the country's transformation into a modern, urban, industrial society. Using an organizing theme of "new interventionism" - the unprecedented willingness of Americans of the time to become actively involved with the economy, society and world affairs - the book examines the economic, social, political and international shifts that resulted from modernization. It covers all major events and historical figures of the period, including detail on all the major legislation and other domestic and foreign governmental actions. The author received the Best Book Award from the Society for Military History for "To Raise an Army: The Draft Comes to Modern America". ... Read more

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Aboriginal America (American History, Vol I) by Jacob Abbott New York: Sheldon & Company. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 1860 Preface

It is the design of this work to narrate, in a clear, simple, and intelligible manner, the leading events connected with the history of our country, from the earliest periods, down, as nearly as practicable, to the present time. The several volumes will be illustrated with all necessary maps and with numerous engravings, and the work is intended to comprise, in a distinct and connected narrative, all that it is essential for the general reader to understand in respect to the subject of it, while for those who have time for more extended studies, it may serve as an introduction to other and more copious sources of information.

The author hopes also that the work may be found useful to the young, in awakening in their minds an interest in the history of their country, and a desire for further instruction in respect to it. While it is doubtless true that such a subject can be really grasped only by minds in some degree mature, still the author believes that many young persons, especially such as are intelligent and thoughtful in disposition and character, may derive both entertainment and instruction from a perusal of these pages.

Chapter 1 -- Types of Life in America. Subject of the Volume

The first step to be taken in studying the history of our country is to form some clear and proper conception of the characteristics and condition of the territory which is now occupied by the American people, as it existed when first discovered and explored by Europeans. The aboriginal condition of the country, therefore, anterior to its occupation by white men, and the character and condition of the native tribes which then inhabited it, will be the subject of this volume. Origin of Vegetable and Animal Life in America

When the new world was first discovered it was found to be, like the old, well stocked with plants and animals, and inhabited by a great many tribes and nations of men; and yet the plants and animals, if not the men, were all essentially different from those known in the old world. This was unexpected; it was thought to be quite remarkable, and it added greatly to the difficulty of deciding the question, which, of course, at once arose, in respect to the origin of these plants and animals and men, and to the manner in which they came in possession of a continent thus cut off apparently from all intercourse and connection with the rest of the world.

For the American continent is entirely separated from the old. The nearest approach which it makes to it in any part is at Behring's Straits, on the north-west, where it is divided form the Asiatic continent by a channel about forty miles wide.

Means of Communication With the Old World

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Theodore Roosevelt was born in New York City, October 27, 1858. He was graduated from Harvard in 1880. At the age of twenty-three he entered the New York State Assembly, where he served six years with great credit. Two years he was a cowboy in Dakota. He was United States Civil Service Commissioner and President of the New York City Police Board. In 1897 he became Assistant Secretary of the Navy, holding this position long enough to indite the despatch which took Dewey to Manila. He then raised the first United States Volunteer Cavalry, commonly spoken of as Rough Riders, and went to Cuba as their lieutenant-colonel. Gallantry at Las Guasimas made him their colonel, the first colonel, Leonard Wood, having received a brigadier-general's commission. Returning from the war, Colonel Roosevelt found himself, as by a magic metamorphosis, Governor of his State, fighting civic battles against growing corporate abuses. He urged compulsory publicity for the affairs of monopolistic combinations, and was prominently instrumental in the enactment of the New York Franchise Tax Law.
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Three Great Lines of Campaign. Confederate Posts in Kentucky. Surrender of Fort Henry. Siege of Fort Donelson. Capture. Kentucky Cleared of Armed Confederates. Pope Captures Island No. 10. Gunboat Fight. Memphis Ours. Battle of Pittsburg Landing. Defeat and Victory. Farragut and Butler to New Orleans. Battle. Victory. The Crescent City Won. On to Vicksburg. Iuka. Corinth. Grant's Masterly Strategy. Sherman's Movements. McClernand's. Gunboats pass Vicksburg. Capture of Jackson, Miss. Battle of Champion's Hill. Siege of Vicksburg. Famine within. The Surrender.
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General Revision and Extension of State Constitutions. Introduction of Australian Ballot in Various States. Woman Suffrage in the West. Negro Suffrage in the South. Educational Qualification. The Mississippi Plan. South Carolina Registration Act. The Grandfather Clause in Louisiana Constitution. Alabama Suffrage.
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The Word Whig. Republican Prestige. Schism. Adams's Election. Five Doctrines of Whiggism. I. Broad Construction of the Constitution. II. The Bank. Death of Old and Birth of New. Opposition by Jackson. III. The Tariff of 1816. Its Object. IV. Land. Whig versus Democratic Policy. V. Internal Improvements Rivers and Harbors. Need of Better Inland Communication. Contention between the Parties. Whig Characteristics. Adams. Webster. His Political Attitude. Clay. His Power, as an Orator. His Duel with Randolph. His Wit. His Influence.
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Most of the briefer treatments of the subject are manuals, intended for pupils in schools, the conspicuous articulation so necessary for this purpose greatly lessening their interest for the general reader. The following narrative will be found continuous as well as of moderate compass.
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Assistance was given to me while searching for information in regard to Ku Klux Klan, by many former members of the order, and by their friends and relatives. Of especial value were the details given to me by Major James R. Crowe, of Sheffield, Alabama; the late Ryland Randolph, Esq., and his son, Ryland Randolph, Jr., of Birmingham, Alabama; Judge Z.T. Ewing, of Pulaski, Tennessee; Miss Cora R. Jones, of Birmingham, Alabama, niece of one of the founders of the Klan; Mr. Lacy H. Wilson, of Bristol, Tennessee, the son of one of the authors of the History printed within, Major S.A. Cunningham and Mr. A.V. Goodpasture, of Nashville, and Dr. John A. Wyeth, of New York City.
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It was a crime that shocked the nation, a brutal murder in Chicago in 1924 of a child, by two wealthy college students who killed solely for the thrill of the experience. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb had first met several years earlier, and their friendship had blossomed into a love affair. Both were intellectuals—too smart, they believed, for the police to catch them. However, the police had recovered an important clue at the scene of the crime—a pair of eyeglasses—and soon both Leopold and Loeb were in the custody of Cook County. They confessed, and Robert Crowe, the state's attorney, announced to newspaper reporters that he had a hanging case. No defense, he believed, would save the two ruthless killers from the gallows.

Set against the backdrop of the 1920s, a time of prosperity, self-indulgence, and hedonistic excess, For the Thrill of It draws the reader into a lost world, a world of speakeasies and flappers, of gangsters and gin parties, that existed when Chicago was a lawless city on the brink of anarchy. The rejection of morality, the worship of youth, and the obsession with sex had seemingly found their expression in this callous murder.

But the murder is only half the story. After Leopold and Loeb were arrested, their families hired Clarence Darrow to defend their sons. Darrow, the most famous lawyer in America, aimed to save Leopold and Loeb from the death penalty by showing that the crime was the inevitable consequence of sexual and psychological abuse that each defendant had suffered during childhood at the hands of adults. Both boys, Darrow claimed, had experienced a compulsion to kill, and therefore, he appealed to the judge, they should be spared capital punishment. However, Darrow faced a worthy adversary in his prosecuting attorney: Robert Crowe was clever,cunning, and charismatic, with ambitions of becoming Chicago's next mayor—and he was determined to send Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb to their deaths.

A masterful storyteller, Simon Baatz has written a gripping account of the infamous Leopold and Loeb case. Using court records and recently discovered transcripts, Baatz shows how the pathological relationship between Leopold and Loeb inexorably led to their crime.

This thrilling narrative of murder and mystery in the Jazz Age will keep the reader in a continual state of suspense as the story twists and turns its way to an unexpected conclusion.

Customer Reviews (46)

Imaginings, omissions and errors
Part of this author's story on Loeb and Leopold is taken from newspaper reports, which were often notoriously sensationalized (and unapologetically inaccurate) during this early "trial of the century". And much of his story is clearly imaginative rather than factual, on what occurred before, during and after the murder. Simon Baatz attempts to delve into the minds of the characters to tell us what they're thinking and feeling, which is good in a novel but hardly representative of an accurate historical picture. As for facts, the writer apparently couldn't be bothered to get them straight: Richard Loeb's birthday, for example, isn't June 22 - it's June 11. The name of his governess wasn't Emily; it was Anna. There had been no rape or violation of the victim; Judge Caverly set that record straight in his final findings. The true identity of the murderer - whether Loeb or Leopold - was never admitted to nor determined. As well as getting facts wrong, Baatz also omits truths from his story, presumably because they don't conform to his bias. A glaring example of this is that the inmate who butchered Loeb in prison, James Day, was later caught sodomizing other inmates. There is evidence that Loeb was in fact the one resisting Day's advances, not vice-versa. If you want a good book about Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, buy Hal Higdon's "Leopold and Loeb: Crime of the Century." The best thing I can say about "For the Thrill of It" is that it has a few rare photos.

Detailed History of the Leopold and Loeb Case
The Leopold and Loeb murder case is one that simultaneously shocked and fascinated the American public.It is perhaps the first thrill kill case of the modern era.This book is a very detailed and in-depth investigation into the life of both the young men who committed this terrible crime and the investigation and prosecution which convicted them of the murder.
I am always intrigued by courtroom dramas and historical crime dramas. The Leopold and Loeb story is one that truly proves the adage that truth can be stranger than fiction.Who would have ever imagined two young, intelligentmen from well respected families would have conspired to commit a murder simply to see if it could be done especially at that particular time in American history.
The book was rather lengthy and I think some parts could have been omitted, but overall it was an interesting study of the killers and what led them to such a violent act.
Also, I never realized that the movie Numbers with Sandra Bullock was based on this case until reading the book.If you haven't seen that movie, you might want to check it out after reading the book.It is a modern day version of what L & L did and it's riveting.

Not too thrilling
Contrary to popular belief, sometimes you CAN judge a book by its cover. My initial misgivings regarding FOR THE THRILL OF IT: LEOPOLD, LOEB, AND THE MURDER THAT SHOCKED CHICAGO began when I saw the photo of Chicago's Merchandise Mart on the cover. Construction of the Merchandise Mart was not completed until 1929--five years AFTER the Leopold and Loeb trial! Most people might not catch this detail (the publisher obviously didn't) but to me this is a pretty glaring error and just as inaccurate as putting a shot of Buddy Holly on the cover of a book about 1940s Big Band music.

As for the contents of the book, the author accomplishes something I thought would have been impossible: he takes a fascinating subject and makes it deadly dull. There are times when the writing seems so disinterested, I wonder why he even bothered to tackle this subject to begin with. Names, dates and other facts are rattled off in a perfunctory manner. As vile and repugnant as their crime was, Leopold and Loeb were complex individuals, yet the author doesn't seem to be terribly interested in what made them tick. Of course, much of their vile behavior is ultimately unexplainable, but a good writer knows how to keep the reader involved and bring people and events to life. But none of this happens here.

Amazingly, the author takes Clarence Darrow to task for what he feels are tactical errors in Darrow's defense strategy. While all historical events can and should be examined from different viewpoints, there's no denying that Darrow's defense saved both young men from death sentences. So to repeatedly state that Darrow misjudged his approach is foolish in light of the facts. This sort of revisionist take on Darrow would have been more palpable if the author offered genuine insights, but he merely comes across as an obnoxious know-it-all who an expert on everything--AFTER it's happened. Everyone is brilliant in hindsight, but it takes a real genius to know what to do at the exact moment events are unfolding.

The most disheartening thing about FOR THE THRILL OF IT is that it will prevent another, superior book on the subject from being published for a while.This volume tells its tale in a tedious, superficial fashion. That's a crime in itself.

Unnecessary detail embellishment?
While I appreciate some of the never-before-seen photos in this book, right off the bat, I am troubled by some of details the author has provided.Any prior book or news article I've read about this case clearly stated that the Franks had only three children, Josephine, Jacob Jr, called Jack, with Bobby being the youngest.And yet on page 4 we are introduced to a yet another Franks child, also named Jacob, who is described as being younger than Bobby and a promising grammar school student.The author even describes him fidgeting at dinner the night Bobby was taken.(While Jack is upstairs in bed with the chicken pox.)But who exactly is this mystery boy?Where did he come from?Where did he go?He was never mentioned during the time of the trial. Jacob Franks' 1928 obituary only lists two surviving children. Jack died in 1938 and Josephine was said to be the sole survivor of Bobby's family when she was reached for comment around the time of Leopold's release from prison.Are we to believe that Jacob Number Three died sometime between 1924 and 1928, a time period when the Franks case still very much in the public mind, and the press never even made mention of this other child's death?

I checked the Franks family on the 1920 census, and it lists only Josephine, Jack, and Bobby. So if another child existed in 1924, he had to have been four years old or less at the time of the crime.This doesn't fit with the author's description of him either. I can only conclude this boy never existed.

I can certainly live with one research mistake, but the author actually describing this imaginary kid's behavior at dinner is very troubling and makes me question every other detail in this book.

too much boring unnnecessary detail
Anyone who wants to write about a murder and trial should read In Cold Blood first and learn from Capote's approach.This author did not.He takes one of the most notorious murders (the Leopold-Loeb killing of a 14-year-old boy in Chicago in 1924) and turns in into one of the most plodding and dull books I've ever read.The author seems to think that the more detail he can supply, the more veristic, the more definitive his work will be.When we are told that one of the supporting characters has "brown hair brushed neatly toward the right," I wanted to know why the author felt this detail was important.Would it have mattered if his hair been brushed toward the left?Someone walks by a group of children who are playing and we are told the brand name of the soda pop they are drinking.We never see or hear of the children again, so why is the name of the soda pop so important that we have to be told about it?

This is the principal flaw of this 447-page work.The author feels obliged to pile tiny detail upon detail.Just because something happens doesn't mean it's worth inserting into the prose. Just because a contemporary newspaper story mentioned something doesn't mean it has to be quoted at length now. At one point, I thought, "Why doesn't he tell us what color shirt the trial judge wore on the day of the thirteenth birthday?"That would be just as significant as a lot of the other detail he forces on us. When Capote gave us a bit of detail, it was relevant; he made it seem both poetic and evocative.This author just loads it on. Does a building have gables or a mansard roof? Doesn't matter to me, but the author insists on telling us.

This is a very interesting case.I had forgotten the verdict. I thought I knew how one of the killers eventually died, but I wasn't sure, so I kept reading to make sure.The final chapters are actually quite good because years are reduced to paragraphs, as opposed to the early chapters, where hours are expanded to long chapters.I would suggest that potential readers seek out a shorter, more concise version of this case. I did something I rarely do: I flipped the pages quickly, hoping to get back to the main story, which was often difficult to find because of all the bothersome clutter. ... Read more

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WHO FIRST SETTLED AMERICA?--It was probably first peopled from Asia, the birth-place of man. In what way this happened, we do not know. Chinese vessels, coasting along the shore according to the custom of early voyagers, may have been driven by storms to cross the Pacific Ocean, while the crews were thankful to escape a watery grave by settling an unknown country or, parties wandering across Behring Strait in search of adventure, and finding on this side a pleasant land, may have resolved to make it their home.

AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES.--In various parts of the continent, remains are found of the people who settled the country in prehistoric times. Through the Mississippi valley, from the Lakes to the Gulf, extends a succession of defensive earthworks.

[Footnote: It is a singular fact that banks of earth grassed over are more enduring than any other work of man. The grassy mounds near Nineveh and Babylon have remained unchanged for centuries. Meantime massive buildings of stone have been erected, have served long generations, and have crumbled to ruin.]

Similar ruins are found in various other sections of the United States. The largest forest trees are often found growing upon them. The Indians have no tradition as to the origin of these structures. They generally crown steep hills, and consist of embankments, ditches, &c., indicating considerable acquaintance with military science. At Newark, Ohio, a fortification exists which covers an area of more than two miles square, and has over two miles of embankment from two to twenty feet high.

Mounds, seemingly constructed as great altars for religious purposes or as monuments, are also numerous. One, opposite St. Louis, covers eight acres of ground, and is ninety feet high. There are said to be 10,000 of these mounds in Ohio alone.




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Historians have bestowed little attention to that important period in our great commonwealth, just after the restoration in England. Though one hundred years before liberty was actually obtained, the sleeping goddess seemed to have opened her eyes on that occasion and yawned, though she closed them the next moment for a sleep of a century longer. Events produce such strange and lasting impressions on individuals as well as on nations, that the historian may not be much out of the way, who fancies that he sees in the reign of Cromwell the outgrowth of republicanism, which culminated in the establishment of a free and independent English-speaking people on the American continent. The two principal classes of English colonists were the cavaliers and the Puritans, though there were also Quakers, Catholics, and settlers of other creeds. Generally the cavaliers were the "king's men," or royalists, and the Puritans republicans. The different characteristics of these two sects were quite marked. The Puritans were sober and industrious, quiet, fanatically religious and strict, while the cavaliers were polite, gallant, brave, good livers and quite fond of display. They were nearly all of the Church of England, with rather loose morals, fond of fox-hunting and gay society. During the time of the Commonwealth of England, the Puritans were in power, and the king's people, cavaliers, or royalists were reinstated on the restoration of monarchy in 1660.

Sir William Berkeley, a bigoted churchman, a lover of royalty, and one who despised, republicanism and personal liberty so heartily that he could "thank God that there were neither printing-presses nor public schools in Virginia," was appointed by Charles II. governor of Virginia. Berkeley, whose early career was bright with promise, seems in his old age to have become filled with hatred and avarice. He was too stubborn to listen to the counsel even of friends. Being engaged in a profitable traffic with the Indians, he preferred to let them slaughter the people on the frontier, rather than to allow his business to be interfered with. Berkeley's tyranny was carried to such an extreme, that rebellion was the natural consequence. Rebellion always follows some injury or misplaced confidence in the powers of the government. This rebellion came a "century too soon," being just one hundred years before the great revolution, which set at liberty all the colonies of North America.

In this story we take up John Stevens and his son Robert, the son and grandson of Philip Stevens, whose story was told in "Pocahontas." The object has been to give a complete history of the period and to depict home life, manners and customs of the time in the form of a pleasing story. It remains for the reader to say if the effort has been a success.



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The wisest thing in the world is to cry out before you are hurt. It is no good to cry out after you are hurt; especially after you are mortally hurt. People talk about the impatience of the populace; but sound historians know that most tyrannies have been possible because men moved too late. It is often essential to resist a tyranny before it exists. It is no answer to say, with a distant optimism, that the scheme is only in the air. A blow from a hatchet can only be parried while it is in the air. ... Read more

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The author of this little volume has no other apology for offering it to the public, than the hurried manner in which it has been composed. Being detained in the city of New York on business, he seized the opportunity of a tedious delay, and wrote the work in the inside of one month, attending to other business through the day, and lecturing on physiology sometimes in the evening. The reader will therefore not entertain an idea of elegance of language and terseness of style, such as should rule the sentences of every composition, by whomsoever written.

His sole object has been, to place before the public in general, and the colored people of the United States in particular, great truths concerning this class of citizens, which appears to have been heretofore avoided, as well by friends as enemies to their elevation. By opponents, to conceal information, that they are well aware would stimulate and impel them on to bold and adventurous deeds of manly daring; and by friends, who seem to have acted on the principle of the zealous orthodox, who would prefer losing the object of his pursuit to changing his policy.

There are also a great many colored people in the United States, who have independence of spirit, who desire to, and do, think for themselves; but for the want of general information, and in consequence of a prevailing opinion that has obtained, that no thoughts nor opinions must be expressed, even though it would eventuate in their elevation, except it emanate from some old, orthodox, stereotyped doctrine concerning them; therefore, such a work as this, which is but a mere introduction to what will henceforth emanate from the pen of colored men and women, appeared to be in most anxious demand, in order to settle their minds entirely, and concentrate them upon an effective and specific course of procedure. We have never conformed with that class of philosophers who would keep the people in ignorance, lest they might change their opinion from former predilections. This we shall never do, except pressing necessity demands it, and then only as a measure to prevent bad consequences, for the time.


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It was a beautiful evening at the close of a warm, luscious day in old Spain. It was such an evening as one would select for trysting purposes. The honeysuckle gave out the sweet announcement of its arrival on the summer breeze, and the bulbul sang in the dark vistas of olive-trees,--sang of his love and his hope, and of the victory he anticipated in the morrow's bulbul-fight, and the plaudits of the royal couple who would be there. The pink west paled away to the touch of twilight, and the soft zenith was sown with stars coming like celestial fire-flies on the breast of a mighty meadow.

Across the dusk, with bowed head, came a woman. Her air was one of proud humility. It was the air of royalty in the presence of an overruling power. It was Isabella. She was on her way to confession. She carried a large, beautifully-bound volume containing a memorandum of her sins for the day. Ever and anon she would refer to it, but the twilight had come on so fast that she could not read it.

[Illustration: ISABELLA AT CONFESSIONAL.]

Reaching the confessional, she kneeled, and, by the aid of her notes, she told off to the good Father and receptacle of the queen's trifling sins, Fernando de Talavera, how wicked she had been. When it was over and the queen had risen to go, Fernando came forth, and with a solemn obeisance said,--

"May it please your Majesty, I have to-day received a letter from my good friend the prior of the Franciscan convent of St. Mary's of Rabida in Andalusia. With your Majesty's permission, I will read it to you."



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THE NEW WORLD FOUND

The New World, of which our country is the most important part, was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. When that great man set sail from Spain on his voyage of discovery, he was seeking not only unknown lands, but a new way to eastern Asia. Such a new way was badly needed.

THE ROUTES OF TRADE.--Long before Columbus was born, the people of Europe had been trading with the far East. Spices, drugs, and precious stones, silks, and other articles of luxury were brought, partly by vessels and partly by camels, from India, the Spice Islands, and Cathay (China) by various routes to Constantinople and the cities in Egypt and along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. There they were traded for the copper, tin, and lead, coral, and woolens of Europe, and then carried to Venice and Genoa, whence merchants spread them over all Europe. [1] The merchants of Genoa traded chiefly with Constantinople, and those of Venice with Egypt.

THE TURKS SEIZE THE ROUTES OF TRADE.--While this trade was at its height, Asia Minor (from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean) was conquered by the Turks, the caravan routes across that country were seized, and when Constantinople was captured (in 1453), the trade of Genoa was ruined. Should the Turkish conquests be extended southward to Egypt (as later they were), the prosperity of Venice would likewise be destroyed, and all existing trade routes to the Orient would be in Turkish hands.

[Illustration: THE KNOWN WORLD IN 1490; ROUTES TO INDIA.]

THE PORTUGUESE SEEK A NEW ROUTE.--Clearly an ocean route to the East was needed, and on the discovery of such a route the Portuguese had long been hard at work. Fired by a desire to expand Portugal and add to the geographical knowledge of his day, Prince Henry "the Navigator" sent out explorer after explorer, who, pushing down the coast of Africa, had almost reached the equator before Prince Henry died. [2] His successors continued the good work, the equator was crossed, and in 1487 Dias passed the Cape of Good Hope and sailed eastward till his sailors mutinied. Ten years later Vasco da Gama sailed around the end of Africa, up the east coast, and on to India, and brought home a cargo of eastern products. A way to India by water was at last made known to Europe. [3]




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Assistance was given to me while searching for information in regard to Ku Klux Klan, by many former members of the order, and by their friends and relatives. Of especial value were the details given to me by Major James R. Crowe, of Sheffield, Alabama; the late Ryland Randolph, Esq., and his son, Ryland Randolph, Jr., of Birmingham, Alabama; Judge Z.T. Ewing, of Pulaski, Tennessee; Miss Cora R. Jones, of Birmingham, Alabama, niece of one of the founders of the Klan; Mr. Lacy H. Wilson, of Bristol, Tennessee, the son of one of the authors of the History printed within, Major S.A. Cunningham and Mr. A.V. Goodpasture, of Nashville, and Dr. John A. Wyeth, of New York City.
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Spirits are all the rage today. Two-thirds of Americans drink, whether they enjoy higher priced call brands or more moderately priced favorites. From fine dining and piano bars to baseball games and backyard barbeques, drinks are part of every social occasion.

In The Prohibition Hangover, Garrett Peck explores the often-contradictory social history of alcohol in America, from the end of Prohibition in 1933 to the twenty-first century. For Peck, Repeal left American society wondering whether alcohol was a consumer product or a controlled substance, an accepted staple of social culture or a danger to society. 

Today the legal drinking age, binge drinking, the neoprohibitionist movement led by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the 2005 Supreme Court decision in Granholm v. Heald that rejected discriminatory curbs on wine sales, the health benefits of red wine, advertising, and other issues remain highly contested.

Based on primary research, including hundreds of interviews with those on all sides--clergy, bar and restaurant owners, public health advocates, citizen crusaders, industry representatives, and more--as well as secondary sources, The Prohibition Hangover provides a panoramic assessment of alcohol in American culture. Traveling through the California wine country, the beer barrel backroads of New England and Pennsylvania, and the blue hills of Kentucky's bourbon trail, Peck places the concerns surrounding alcohol use within the broader context of American history, religious traditions, and governance.

Society is constantly evolving, and so are our drinking habits. Cutting through the froth and discarding the maraschino cherries, The Prohibition Hangover examines the modern American temperament toward drink amid the $189-billion-dollar-a-year industry that defines itself by the production, distribution, marketing, and consumption of alcoholic beverages. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

All angles of alcohol
The subject of alcohol in America has so many facets that it would be hard to know where to begin to write a book about it, but Garrett Peck has done just that in his comprehensive look at the history and current state of alcohol use, mores and laws in the United States. Prohibition is a good central idea and that is his starting point.

Author Peck has written one terrific book. The eighteenth amendment to the Constitution propelled the nation through thirteen years of "The Noble Experiment", a phrase to which this period is often referred. Peck then turns to current day usage through chapters regarding spirits, beer and wine. Tidbits of wonderful wisdom pop out. Who knew that even though the Italian immigrants in the late nineteenth century brought their wine with them that wine didn't catch on for decades because of the rise of the temperance movement. Through this first part of the book the author relates how whiskey is distilled, why beer drinking is on the decline (even thought it still represents the larger percentage of the alcohol we drink) and how small wineries survive. His guide through Napa and Sonoma is among the best parts of the book. Peck also describes the business aspects of the sale and distribution of beer, wine and spirits, which I found fascinating as one who is not particularly knowledgeable in that field.

The second half deals more with laws and social consequences of alcohol. There is a requisite chapter called "Alcohol and Your Health" and he even gets into the religious side of the acceptance or rejection of alcohol by mainstream American churches. Although he remains a reporting observer for most of the book, he infuses his own thoughts, especially when it comes to Sunday blue laws, dry counties, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the argument for lowering the legal drinking age to eighteen. (He refers to the fact that Portugal has no drinking age and their citizens have fewer problems with alcohol abuse)

What makes "The Prohibition Hangover" so good is not just the factual side of his presentation nor is it simply his conclusions. Peck is a good writer, a good thinker and a great teacher. After reading his book, you feel as if you've gone through a semester course with him...enjoying him all along the way. Garrett Peck has produced a wonderful book on a subject we all know something about and he fills in many of the blank spaces about things we don't know. I highly recommend it.

The Prohibition Hangover won't give you one
Garrett Peck's enjoyable and entertaining account takes the reader through the changing mores surrounding the consumption of alcohol in America. The book's broad account takes the reader on tours of whiskey country in Kentucky, California's wine regions, and the history of American beer brewing. The title refers to the continuing effects of Prohibition, in particular the patchwork of federal, state and local laws that still limit the production, sale and consumption of alcohol. Peck also shows that we're drinking less in quantity, but enjoying higher quality, as seen in the decline of the big national beer brands. Peck is probably at his best describing the furious lobbying efforts and the perennial marketing battles as the distillers, brewers and vintners jostle for market share. If you're looking for the reasons behind what and why we drink--and how, when, and where we do it-- you'll probably find the answers here.

Well-written and informative
Garrett Peck has written a highly informative and entertaining account of the liquor industry in the United States.The author provides background on the temperance movement of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and shows how, even today, that movement affects our liquor laws and attitudes.He also provides interesting information about the production of different types of liquor and insights into trends in this important industry.Whetheryou drink a lot or not at all (or are somewhere in between), you will find "The Prohibition Hangover" enjoyable.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Alcohol
The author takes on the subject of alcohol, and covers it from every angle, delving into such diverse topics as the history of alcohol (and its potential future); changing social attitudes about consumption; the medical evidence regarding drinking; politics, and the motivation of alcohol taxation; and the impact of religion on alcohol use.Overarching all this is an in-depth discussion of the Temperance movement, and its lasting impact on America's attitude toward alcohol.There's something for everyone here.

The author brings it all together in a surprisingly accessible and interesting way for the average reader.He clearly has his own opinions on this controversial subject, and he's not afraid to share them, keeping the read lively.

The book reveals that almost 2/3 of American adults consume alcoholic beverages.Given that we, as Americans, spend so much time and money on alcohol, it only makes sense to understand more about it.A thorough, well-written book about a fascinating topic.Recommended! ... Read more

Product Description
It was among the most notorious criminal cases of its day. On August 11, 1921, in Birmingham, Alabama, a Methodist minister named Edwin Stephenson shot and killed a Catholic priest, James Coyle, in broad daylight and in front of numerous witnesses. The killer's motive? The priest had married Stephenson's eighteen-year-old daughter Ruth--who had secretly converted to Catholicism three months earlier--to Pedro Gussman, a Puerto Rican migrant and practicing Catholic.
  Having all but disappeared from historical memory, the murder of Father Coyle and the trial of Rev. Stephenson that followed are vividly resurrected in Sharon Davies's Rising Road. As Davies reveals in remarkable detail, the case laid bare all the bigotries of its time and place: a simmering hatred not only of African Americans, but of Catholics and foreigners as well. In one of the case's most interesting twists, Reverend Stephenson hired future U.S. Supreme Court justice Hugo Black to lead his defense team. Though Black would later be regarded as a champion of civil rights, at the time the talented defense lawyer was only months away from joining the Ku Klux Klan, which held fundraising drives to finance Stephenson's defense. Entering a plea of temporary insanity, Black and his client used both religion and race-accusing the Puerto Rican husband of being "a Negro"--in the hopes of persuading the jury to forgive the priest's murder.
  Placing this story in its full social and historical context, Davies brings to life a heinous crime and its aftermath, in a brilliant, in-depth examination of the consequences of prejudice in the Jim Crow era. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (34)

The road still rises
Living outside of Birmingham I am of the opinion that things havn't changed much.The racism now comes from a minority group.The book was excellent.A well written easy read.

Great book
I very much enjoyed this book. The plot (which I'm not going to restate) is full of intrigue and I could not wait to get to the next page!

One thing that bothered me a bit. The phrase, 'While it can no longer be known, here is what so and so must have thought' appeared a little often for my liking. By saying this I'm splitting hairs, however.

Amazing book...

Interesting Slice of History
Title Rising Road: A True Tale of Love, Race, and Religion in America
Author Sharon Davies
Rating ****
Tags non-fiction, history, birmingham, alabama, anti-catholicism, ku klux klan, murder, trial


Rising Road is one of those histories that illustrates a specific time and place and uses that to explain something about a culture. The time is 1021, and the place is Birmingham, Alabama. The country is going through one of its periodic bouts of anti-immigrant feeling, which is tied up with strong anti-Catholic feeling. Anti-Catholic publications have millions of readers. In Birmingham, one of the strongest defenders of Catholicism is Father James Coyle, pastor of St. Paul's.

Edwin Stephenson was a staunch anti-Catholic He had been a barber, but after an injury couldn't stand all day and used his ordination as a deacon to marry couples at the Jefferson County courthouse a few doors down from St. Paul's. His daughter Ruth, to the horror of Stephenson and his wife, showed an attraction to Catholicism from the time she was twelve. Some time after her eighteenth birthday, she joined the Catholic Church and Father Coyle married her to a Catholic man originally from Puerto Rico, Pedro Gussman. A few hours later, Edwin Stephenson went to Father Coyle's house and shot and killed him.

The trial, of course, was a sensation. The Catholic community was outraged. The Klan supported Stephenson - in fact the author discovered that the Klan paid fro Stephenson's defense, which was headed by Hugo Black, future Supreme court justice. There are also indications that there were Klansmen on the jury.

Sharon Davies tells the story well. She does a good job of giving a sense of the people involved. Her coverage of a story that provoked strong feelings is fair and balanced. She has the dogged persistence required to dig deep into surviving records to get the whole story, and she is excellent in tying this story to a sense of what was occurring in the country's culture at the time. Highly recommended.

Publication Oxford University Press, USA (2009), Hardcover, 352 pages
Publication date 2009
ISBN 0195379799 / 9780195379792

good true crime
Many of the previous reviewers have summarized my views well. The many readers of the Chicago-based "White City" will likely enjoy this book as well, as they read in a similar fashion.The author's vivid portrayal of a Catholic minority dealing with the significant challenges of an unsympathetic Protestant majority rings true with stories my father told me of growing up in rural Illinois.The challenge revealed here was probably among the worst.The author's sympathies are clearly with the minority, as seems justifiable in this case by the facts.I especially enjoyed the author's blow-by-blow analysis of the legal proceedings from the perspective of a legal scholar.I also enjoyed the many diversions of what life was like in a growing twentieth century industrial town with a vibrant downtown area.

One of the best books out there.
This book is very well researched and provides a great insight on what Birmingham was like in those dark days of her past. This book is very hard to put down and when it is over you will be sad there is no more text. This book should be on any kind of book list, you will learn not only learn a great deal about the history of Birmingham and the people in this book, but this is the type of book that will have an impact on the life of the person reading it. ... Read more

Product Description
Kansas City, 1929: Myrtle and Jack Bennett sit down with another couple for an evening of bridge. As the game intensifies, Myrtle complains that Jack is a “bum bridge player.” For such insubordination, he slaps her hard in front of their stunned guests and announces he is leaving. Moments later, sobbing, with a Colt .32 pistol
in hand, Myrtle fires four shots, killing her husband.

The Roaring 1920s inspired nationwide fads–flagpole sitting, marathon dancing, swimming-pool endurance floating. But of all the mad games that cheered Americans between the wars, the least likely was contract bridge. As the Barnum of the bridge craze, Ely Culbertson, a tuxedoed boulevardier with a Russian accent, used mystique, brilliance, and a certain madness to transform bridge from a social pastime into a cultural movement that made him rich and famous. In writings, in lectures, and on the radio, he used the Bennett killing to dramatize bridge as the battle of the sexes. Indeed, Myrtle Bennett’s murder trial became a sensation because it brought a beautiful housewife–and hints of her husband’s infidelity–from the bridge table into the national spotlight. James A. Reed, Myrtle’s high-powered lawyer and onetime Democratic presidential candidate, delivered soaring, tear-filled courtroom orations. As Reed waxed on about the sanctity of womanhood, he was secretly conducting an extramarital romance with a feminist trailblazer who lived next door.

To the public, bridge symbolized tossing aside the ideals of the Puritans–who referred derisively to playing cards as “the Devil’s tickets”–and embracing the modern age. Ina time when such fearless women as Amelia Earhart, Dorothy Parker, and Marlene Dietrich were exalted for their boldness, Culbertson positioned his game as a challenge to all housebound women. At the bridge table, he insisted, a woman could be her husband’s equal, and more. In the gathering darkness of the Depression, Culbertson leveraged his own ballyhoo and naughty innuendo for all it was worth, maneuvering himself and his brilliant wife, Jo, his favorite bridge partner, into a media spectacle dubbed the Bridge Battle of the Century.

Through these larger-than-life characters and the timeless partnership game they played, The Devil’s Tickets captures a uniquely colorful age and a tension in marriage that is eternal.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Superb, extremely well-written, thrilling stuff
A terrific and enthralling story beautifully and seamlessly intertwining related tales: the rise of contract bridge and its mesmerizing promoters Ely (and Jo) Culbertson; a fatal bridge game and the ensuing trial in Kansas; an aging senator and litigator; and, most important, the changing pace and mores of America herself.

The author's presentation is riveting and the prose is pellucid and pleasant to read. Pacing is excellent, one finds oneself writing a screenplay for this almost subconsciously. Not since Doctorow's Ragtime have so many threads of early twentieth century U.S. been woven together so elegantly.

Knowledge of bridge is not necessary at all to enjoy; I don't play but found the primer at the back enough to follow.

There were two minor weaknesses.

First, there was perhaps a bit of a dearth of reproductions of primary sources. I'd have liked to have seen reproductions of the full text and images of many of the newspaper and magazine articles discussed. Of course, the book would then be six hundred pages but the material is so interesting, it would be worth it. Arguably, a section on the role of evidence law and in the trial, and how it changed as well, would have be interesting.

Second, the epilogue section, following the predictable entropic demise and fading of the main players, went on a bit too long and was a bit slow for my taste.

Anyway, this book seems to me likely to become a classic.

Great story, NOT just for bridge players
I like reading history and stories about interesting people, and so really enjoyed this book.Tells parallel storiesof the major booster for contract bridge (and for himself) and of a woman who fatally shot her husband after a acrimoniousbridge game.Ely Culbertson decided to become the world's foremost expert on contract bridge and thus make his fortune. And, he did so, only to fall into a pathological megalomania later.Myrtle Bennett was a formidable woman who got slapped once too often by his trigger-tempered husband. She shot him after he repeated slapped her in front of guests, after a badly-played bridge hand during which she had called him a "bridge bum."I won't reveal the results of her salaciously covered trial here.However, the author does an amazing job in tracking her history down (years after her death) and filling in some blanks left in her life after the trial.Underlying all this, the book goes over the history of bridge in America....I think we forget how popular this game was at one time.This book was well-written and fast-paced.I do not play bridge and was afraid that he would digress in boring card-by-card details of historic bridge hands, but he covers major "matches" that Culbertson set up without resorting to such.

Great Bookshelf Addition
Well researched and written.Most bridge players who have heard of "the wife who shot her husband over a bridge hand" have thought the story was exaggerated gossip.Thank you Gary Pomerantz for clarifying an urban legend into a most enjoyable novel.Plus, you don't need to understand the game of bridge to appreciate this great read.

A little more than I needed to know
A fascinating history of the development of contract bridge in the U.S., along with con artists and a murder.I am not a bridge player, so some of the details were more than I wanted to know about.Nevertheless, the background history of the 1920's and 1930's was enlightening and well told.

Murder, High-Stakes Bridge, Infidelity - Kansas City History in an Interesting Read
In 1929, an inebriated (beautiful) Myrtle Bennett chased down and shot her inebriated (dashing) husband after he ridiculed her over a bridge hand.The Bennetts were not Kansas City "high society" nor "monied", but her trial lawyer and others that touched her story were.Enter James A. Reed (yes, there is a Kansas City street named after him), Nell Donnelly (the doyenne of Kansas City fashion), and references to Boss (Tom) Pendergast, Harry Truman and Woodrow Wilson.

Pomerantz, the author, juxtaposes Myrtle Bennett's murder trial against the rise of Ely and Jo Culbertson, a superb bridge playing and advertising duo who took the nation by storm.Not only did Ely stage publicity-filled high stakes drawn out bridge game duals,Ely also sold his bridge system books (the Culbertson system) to housewives and promised them that bridge would equalize them ("you can be your husband's equal and more").They were quite the couple and very interesting to read about.

Then there is the Kansas City setting.Many of the places, including the murder location, still exist.At the time of the murder, most people thought that James A. Reed was going to be the next president; instead Harry Truman (a mere court administrator) snagged the title.The book discusses James A. Reed's affair with Nell Donnelly and Nell's potential influence on Reed's decision to take on the Bennett murder trial.

Pomerantz doesn't stop at the murder trial verdict.He understands that we want to know what happened afterwards.He visited Kansas City locations (including inside of the Bennett's apartment), tracked people down and interviewed relatives, friends and acquaintances.This portion of the book is written in first person and is quite interesting.

If you are a history fan, a Kansas City fan or just want to read an interesting book, The Devil's Tickets would be a good choice.

Two other Kansas City history books to read are Deaths on Pleasant Street and Zero at the Bone: The Playboy, the Prostitute, and the Murder of Bobby Greenlease.
... Read more