Lisa McGirr is professor of history at Harvard University and the author of the award-winning history of the new right, Suburban Warriors. She and her family live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
"In this remarkable book, Lisa McGirr transforms our understanding of Prohibition and its legacy. Moving beyond familiar tales of speakeasies and gangland violence, she shows how this episode contributed to the expansion of the authority of the modern American state and the origins of mass imprisonment. No history could be more timely." -- Eric Foner, author of Gateway to Freedom "McGirr's book, fascinating and deeply researched, offers a startlingly fresh argument for why so many of our current problems-from the war on drugs to mass incarceration-grow out of Prohibition. Anyone who wants to understand the 1920s, 1930s, and 2000s should read this book." -- Jonathan Alter, author of The Defining Moment "This is not just the best book ever written about the era of Prohibition; it is a landmark history of modern America. With splendid insight and illuminating details, Lisa McGirr demonstrates that the war on alcohol was the health of the state." -- Michael Kazin, author of American Dreamers "In her revelatory new book, Lisa McGirr moves Prohibition from the gin-soaked edges of the Roaring Twenties to the heart of the American state." -- Kevin Boyle, author of Arc of Justice "[A] fascinating account of Prohibition and its consequences, written with verve, depth, and imagination." -- Ira Katznelson, author of Fear Itself "Lisa McGirr has given us an admirably fresh look at a supposedly shopworn subject. She convincingly demonstrates that the Prohibition era deserves to be taken seriously as the nursery of many stubbornly persistent practices, including a moralizing, meddlesome state that targets its punitive powers on the least-advantaged citizens." -- David M. Kennedy, author of Freedom from Fear
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
