Prohibition and Bootlegging in the American West

Prohibition was imposed by eager temperance movements organizers who sought to shape public behavior through alcoholic beverage control in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The success of reformers’ efforts resulted in National Prohibition in America from 1920 to 1933, but it also resulted in a thriving illegal business in the manufacture and distribution of illegal liquor. The history of Prohibition and the resulting illegal drinking is frequently told through the lens of crime and violence in Chicago and other major East Coast cities.
Often neglected are the effects of Prohibition on the Western part of the United States and how Westerners rose to the challenge of avoiding the consequences of illegal drinking. Illegal liquor was imported from abroad, made in stills using strange ingredients that were sometimes poisonous to the unlucky drinker. This history includes stories ranging from serious to quirky, and provides an entertaining account of how misguided efforts resulted in numerous unintended consequences.

Jeremy Agnew, a biomedical electronics consultant, holds a Ph.D. in engineering and has been involved in the design and manufacture of medical devices for more than 30 years. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and has written several books on the Old West.

Jeremy Agnew
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 230
Bibliographic Info: 35 photos, glossary, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2022
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8833-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4812-5
Imprint: McFarland

Timeline of Prohibition Events
Preface
1. The Saloon Must Go!
2. The Pathway to Prohibition
3. The Real Thing? Or ­­Do-It-Yourself?
4. Beware of What You Drink
5. From Saloons to Speakeasies
6. The Pacific Ocean
7. The West Coast States  8. The Mountain States  9. The Southwest Unintended Consequences
Postscript
Glossary: Some Slang Terms from Prohibition
and the Roaring Twenties
Appendix 1: The Eighteenth and ­­Twenty-First Amendments
to the Constitution of the United States
Appendix 2The Sources of Various Alcoholic Beverages
Appendix 3: The Percentage of Alcohol
in Various Patent Medicines
Appendix 4: Data from Denver, Colorado, Showing
the Frequency of Alcohol Violations in the 1920s
Chapter Notes
Bibliography

“Great research; better than great writing.”—AR Gunners Magazine