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charme1eon 's review for:
slow-paced
Adore the thesis of prohibition as paving the way for the expanded state power of the new deal.
McGirr's discussion of the formation of the coalition for prohibition was fascinating, though I sort of wish she had written more about the temperance movement prior to the 20th century. I understand this would have made for an even more expansive scope, so it makes sense that she chose to focus more on the immediately preceding years.
The coverage of the state and local enforcement of prohibition was where this book started to become a struggle. There's really only so many ways to say "enforcement was selective locally and differed greatly between locations," and McGirr says this a lot! In general, she has a problem of restating her ideas, and i wish these parts of the book had been more granular. This comes in alrge part from my own biases though, as I often find the portions of works of history that illustrate the general through the particular to be less engaging and not always helpful.
The chapter on urban nightlife did a great job of showing the ways prohibition shifted drinking culture from being predominantly located in immigrant working class communities to having a robust elite counterpart. It did make me want to read a book more focused on the cultural side of drinking, as McGirr's focus on political/policy implications does seem to result in some tunnel vision. However, this isn't really a fair criticism, since prohibition drinking culture is already such well-trodden ground.
The chapter on the 1928 election was amazing. McGirr glazes the AL Smith coalition quite a bit, and underplays him losing by nearly 20 points, but this is in service of a strong narrative of 1928 prefiguring the party realignment of the new deal era. I particularly enjoyed her discussion of how Raskob's pro-business perspective fit into the wet narrative of the campaign. This is just one of many examples of McGirr doing an excellent job of illustrating how the wet and dry camps were both ideologically pluralistic, and demonstrates a very sophisticated understanding of how coalitions form.
The concluding chapter seems to gloss over the political processes of repeal a bit. This serves a narrative of prohibition going out with a whimper, but also makes me feel like a bit of nuance was left out. The final pages continue a through-line of comparing prohibition to the later war on drugs, and while I didn't find the conclusions surprising or as interesting as much of the rest of the book, it was certainly a worthy way to conclude the narrative of prohibition as a precursor to later expansion of federal power.
McGirr's discussion of the formation of the coalition for prohibition was fascinating, though I sort of wish she had written more about the temperance movement prior to the 20th century. I understand this would have made for an even more expansive scope, so it makes sense that she chose to focus more on the immediately preceding years.
The coverage of the state and local enforcement of prohibition was where this book started to become a struggle. There's really only so many ways to say "enforcement was selective locally and differed greatly between locations," and McGirr says this a lot! In general, she has a problem of restating her ideas, and i wish these parts of the book had been more granular. This comes in alrge part from my own biases though, as I often find the portions of works of history that illustrate the general through the particular to be less engaging and not always helpful.
The chapter on urban nightlife did a great job of showing the ways prohibition shifted drinking culture from being predominantly located in immigrant working class communities to having a robust elite counterpart. It did make me want to read a book more focused on the cultural side of drinking, as McGirr's focus on political/policy implications does seem to result in some tunnel vision. However, this isn't really a fair criticism, since prohibition drinking culture is already such well-trodden ground.
The chapter on the 1928 election was amazing. McGirr glazes the AL Smith coalition quite a bit, and underplays him losing by nearly 20 points, but this is in service of a strong narrative of 1928 prefiguring the party realignment of the new deal era. I particularly enjoyed her discussion of how Raskob's pro-business perspective fit into the wet narrative of the campaign. This is just one of many examples of McGirr doing an excellent job of illustrating how the wet and dry camps were both ideologically pluralistic, and demonstrates a very sophisticated understanding of how coalitions form.
The concluding chapter seems to gloss over the political processes of repeal a bit. This serves a narrative of prohibition going out with a whimper, but also makes me feel like a bit of nuance was left out. The final pages continue a through-line of comparing prohibition to the later war on drugs, and while I didn't find the conclusions surprising or as interesting as much of the rest of the book, it was certainly a worthy way to conclude the narrative of prohibition as a precursor to later expansion of federal power.