The Truth About Prohibition
The Prohibition era, which for most Americans conjures images of “untouchable” lawmen, tommy-gun-toting gangsters, and jazz-filled speakeasies, is easily one of the most romanticized periods in U.S. history. It’s also one of the most misunderstood. We now vilify the temperance activists who promoted public welfare and excuse corrupt and murderous gangsters such as Al Capone as “legitimate businessmen” who only wanted to slake the thirst of paying customers. The whole concept is topsy-turvy.
How did that all happen? What caused Prohibition? The real answer might surprise you.
In pop-culture portrayals and serious academic histories, the usual explanation boils down to what one author called “”: Bible-thumping American conservatives , meddling in the world of male leisure, the Black people and immigrants, and by World War I.
