We specialize in hard to find items
All Categories
Crusaders, Gangsters, and Whiskey: Prohibition in Memphis
Share Tweet
*Price and Stocks may change without prior notice
*Packaging of actual item may differ from photo shown
- Electrical items MAY be 110 volts.
- 7 Day Return Policy
- All products are genuine and original
About Crusaders, Gangsters, And Whiskey: Prohibition In
Product Description 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. Review An impressive and valuable addition to the small library of Memphis histories has arrived in the form of Crusaders, Gangsters, and Whiskey: Prohibition in Memphis by Patrick O’Daniel…this book should be on the shelf of everyone interested in Memphis and Mid-South history. (Robert Lanier The Best Times) Book Description This book is the definitive work on Prohibition in Memphis, Tennessee. Patrick O’Daniel has impressively re-created scenes from this time through excellent descriptive detail, writing, and research. (Elizabeth Gritter, author of River of Hope: Black Politics and the Memphis Freedom Movement, 1865–1954) Before Patrick O’Daniel’s Crusaders, Gangsters, and Whiskey: Prohibition in Memphis, we knew little of how the prohibition of alcohol affected the urban centers of the American South. With clear analysis and narrative skill, O’Daniel brings to life the colorful characters who tried to either enforce or evade the antiliquor laws of Tennessee and the United States. The story is a fascinating one, and we are fortunate that Patrick O’Daniel has turned his attention to such an important era in American history. (G. Wayne Dowdy, author of Mayor Crump Don’t Like It: Machine Politics in Memphis) History well written is always an interesting narrative. When the story is about a half century of crime and vice in a city readers know, it becomes even more fascinating. This book will enchant all readers. Memphians will have particular delight in seeing familiar institutions and families active in a vastly different world which seems so far away and yet so near in memory. (Charles W. Crawford, professor of history and director of the Oral History Research Office, University of Memphis) About the Author Patrick O’Daniel is a professional librarian and historical researcher who worked for the Memphis Public Library and Information Center. There he spent nine years in the history/social sciences department working with archival and genealogical collections. O’Daniel is the 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.
