Feature
Books for Christmas
Our annual list of holiday gift suggestions from distinguished readers and writers.
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In My Time, by Dick Cheney.
The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny, by Victor Davis Hanson (Anchor).
Eisenhower in War and Peace, by Jean Edward Smith (Random House).
Memoirs of the Civil War, by Ulysses S. Grant.
Donald Rumsfeld was the secretary of defense under George W. Bush. He is the author of Known and Unknown: A Memoir (Sentinel Books).
*****
Mark Tooley
WAS THERE MORE to 1920s-era Prohibition than moonshiners, gangsters, flappers, and priggish churchmen, suffused by hypocrisy? According to Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition (Scribner), by Daniel Okrent, there was indeed. The book also inspired the recent three-part PBS series on Prohibition, which prominently featured interviews with Okrent.
America’s 13-year experiment in banning alcohol sales is rarely remembered except to be spoofed. But the anti-booze 18th Amendment to the Constitution represented the apotheosis of one of America’s most politically successful reform movements. Okrent tells the story better than most, though, like the PBS series, he still leaves a few holes.
Early and 19th-century America was drenched in liquor, the average early citizen assuming shockingly large amounts of alcohol per capita. Partly all the drinking reflected the lack of fully safe other drinks, partly it was a remedy for the ills and aches not yet addressed by modern medicine, and partly it was linked to the hardy masculinity of frontier life. Early 19th-century revivalists inveighed against it. Other reformers joined low-church Protestants to advocate temperance in reaction to drunken abusive husbands, the corruptions of saloons linked to gambling and prostitution, and the hazards of alcoholism in a newly industrialized society. Abraham Lincoln once joined a temperance society and was in fact abstinent most of his adult life, possibly in reaction to an alcoholic father.
Moral reform movements, closely linked to Methodists and Baptists who made abstinence central to church discipline, first enrolled converts to temperance and then stigmatized saloons and their patrons as not fit for polite society. According to the new late-19th-century small-town piety, decent people did not mix with saloon culture. Women, as beacons of the church and frequent victims of drunken husbands who lost the farm gambling at the saloon, became temperance movement leaders. Socially and politically active women also joined the emerging movement for woman’s suffrage. Moral reformers eventually decided that only legislation could protect the vulnerable from the saloon’s temptations. Towns, counties, and states began to ban liquor sales, briefly before the Civil War, and then with more permanence late in the century.
Votes for women were seen as key to getting votes for Prohibition. When state prohibitions failed to work seamlessly, temperance activists decreed that only national Prohibition, enacted into the Constitution, could reform and protect America. To free the government from reliance on liquor sales taxes, an income tax constitutional amendment, enacted in 1913, also became central to the movement. Largely rooted in Anglo-Saxon Protestantism, the temperance movement was partly responding to the rising immigrant population from southern and eastern Europe, many of them Catholics and Jews who were feared to be morally reprobate. Amplified by World War I, beer-drinking Germans, especially their wealthy brewers, were likewise suspect. Business leaders backed Prohibition as the cure for workplace drunkenness. Progressives embraced Prohibition as central to uplifting the working man. Black leaders saw Prohibition as vital to the moral progress of blacks only a few decades out of slavery.
The Anti-Saloon League, backed by thousands of Methodist and Baptist clergy, emerged as one of America’s most successful political machines, realizing that politics could be controlled by one-issue voters even if only a small percentage of the population. Soon it became nearly impossible for Republicans or Democrats outside the large cities to defy the League, which uncompromisingly demanded “bone-dry” laws. Both houses of Congress approved the Prohibition Amendment in 1917 by the requisite two-thirds vote. Senate moderates approved contingent on a seven-year deadline for ratification among the states.
But it flew through state legislatures in barely a year. No major presidential candidate ever enthusiastically supported Prohibition, though President Warren Harding, despite his own personal habits, typically did whatever the Anti-Saloon League asked. Despite the ease of passage, neither Congress nor the states ever voted sufficient funds for enforcement. Most Americans complied with the new law, and total alcohol consumption dropped dramatically, even as a growing minority defied it. Law-abiding imbibers had stocked up on liquor before Prohibition began in 1920, or went on off-shore booze cruises, or quietly produced their own liquor at home. Legal exemption of wine sales for ecclesial purposes enriched many rising vineyards, with the apparent blessing of Catholic and Jewish clerics. Of course, organized crime thrived during Prohibition, and many large cities, especially New York, barely pretended to enforce.
Political parties tried to avoid openly discussing Prohibition. Okrent claims the 1924 Democratic Party’s infamous debate over whether to condemn the resurgent Ku Klux Klan was actually a proxy for debate over Prohibition, which is maybe an exaggeration. The 1928 Democratic nomination of openly “wet” Al Smith created a typhoon of cultural and political warfare. His liquor stance, Catholicism, ties to Tammany Hall, and heavy New York accent, shocking to many Americans in the new radio age, made him a pariah to Protestant Middle America. He lost in a landslide, with even several Southern states voting Republican for the first time since Reconstruction.
J. Edgar Hodgkins of Ole Miss| 12.14.11 @ 8:37AM
Please allow me, a retired history professor from Ole Miss, to recommend a few of my Christmas selections, dear readers:
TOYS FOR BIG BOYS by Ben Stein. Ben shows off his cars, boats, motorcycles, etc. Lovely photos of Ben barechested in his boat, leather-clad on his motorcycle. This coffee talbe book will appeal to both men and women. $175 Rizzoli.
NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED by Margie (a children's book). It's a story about a little girl who loans her lovely doll to her friend, and her friend, in a fit of anger, bashes the doll's head on a radiator pipe. $5.99 Tulip Press.
LOVE IN THE TIME OF DEATH PANELS by Garcia Gomez-Phillipe. A psychological thriller about a man who's been in a vegetative state for 15 years, and the hospital decides to pull the plug. The wife not only objects, but demands that fresh flowers be delivered to her husband's room daily. $29.95 Fascista Press.
WHEN JESUS LAID HIS HANDS ON ME by Ken (Old Texican). Ken tells about the time he pulled a muscle in his right shoulder while helping his friend Margie move an upright piano up a staircase. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but the theme is this: Jesus will answer your prayers if you really believe. $17.50 Glory Road Press.
A SEXUAL HISTORY OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCH by Miss Alabama. Miss Alabama, an Episcopalian and social and cultural doyenne of the South, writes about the ravenous sexual appetites of Southern Baptist men. Using her husband, Hank, his male friends and relatives, Miss Alabama rips open a sordid social fabric of unbridled sexual depravity. You'll need to turn on the air conditioner before opening this steamy tome. $45.00 Pavlova and Bertolucci.
Betty Jean Dowless| 12.14.11 @ 10:48AM
Can't wait to read Miss Alabama's book. Having been invovled with alot of Southern Baptist men, I can testify to their disgusting sexual appetites.
All I will say is that they left me bruised and battered and leave it at that.
But I could go on and on about their peculiar "tastes."
Seek| 12.14.11 @ 1:26PM
But these men profess Christian piety and virtue. Is there, then, a credibility gap?
Prunella S.| 12.14.11 @ 10:52AM
Betty Jean, honey, a lot is two words: a lot.
Example in a sentence:
I loved Rufus a lot, but he was an unfaithful S.O.B. and got the choir director of our local Baptist church pregnant!
Vern Crisler| 12.14.11 @ 10:58AM
I was a little shocked that Bandow would blame Christianity for the Civil War, but I guess when it comes to purist libertarians, such nuttiness is to be expected. Amazingly, many of these same libertarians are defenders of Southern intransigence, witness the foolish writings of Tom DiLorenzo.
Peppermint Tea| 12.14.11 @ 11:09AM
In order to understand Mitt Romney, conservatives and liberals alike should read Lexi Bjornholt's "My Boyfriend is a Mormon Vampire." Find on amazon.
David March| 12.14.11 @ 11:22AM
My recommended reads,
West of Honor, by Dr. Jerry E Pournelle, a good solid story of a soldier on a far frontier who has a chance to do something right. Pournelle himself was apparently a job at this magazine, so Im sure his work is familiar to somebody.
General Kenney Reports: A Personal History of the Pacific War, by General George C. Kenney. A great story of the pacific war told by MacArthurs senior airman. The Pacific comes alive as you relive the stories of his fights with rear areas, his attempts to keep his planes a fly and his coverage of several areas of battles that are not well remembered in these days of the island hopping campaigns.
A State of Disobedience by Tom Kratman. A story set in the near future when a Democrat Presidents policies leads to an armed insurrection in the south. Very scary and very realistic stuff, a foreshadowing of things to come.
David March is a contributor to a World at War and Against the Odds Magazines. His recent articles included the Mau Mau Insurgency and The Battle of Loos.
Purp| 12.14.11 @ 11:24AM
"The strategic genius of Roosevelt and Churchill in encouraging Stalin to take more than 90 percent of the casualties in fighting Hitler, as between the three major allies, while snatching Germany, France, Italy, and Japan, all hostile dictatorships at the end of 1940, back into the West as democratic allies, is rigorously but very readably recounted. " - Really? Do you really think this lesson was lost on the Soviets? Is this not why they felt justified overrunning Eastern Europe as their prize for so many casualties? How was that strategically brilliant?
Moreover, France was no dictatorship in 1940, where did you get that factoid?
Naturalborn Texicanette| 12.14.11 @ 2:50PM
Book reccomendation:
"Beautiful Outlaw" by John Eldridge
Margie| 12.14.11 @ 8:46PM
Every true Christian ought to read this book on the Reformation. It is being read aloud on Christian radio daily right now. It is the best book I have heard of, ever on the subject.
"The Reformation in England", by By Jean Henri Merle d'Aubigné.
Originally published in 1866, reprinted by Banner of Truth Trust, 1972.
"The introductory material in Volume 1, Book 1 is especially interesting as it deals with the planting of apostolic Christianity in Roman Britain, its later subversion by the forces of the Papacy, and the beginnings of reformation in the work of Wycliffe and the Lollards. This is great history and the reader is encouraged to read and study those events that in God's providence were used to reestablish apostolic and Biblical Christianity among the English speaking peoples." ~americanpresbyterianchurch.org.
Titles of some of book one chapters:
CHAPTER 1 Christ Mightier than Druid Altars and Roman Swords
CHAPTER 2 Iona versus Rome
CHAPTER 3 Rome "Converts" Britain
CHAPTER 4 The Conflict with Papal Supremacy
CHAPTER 5 The Iron Age of Spiritual Slavery
CHAPTER 6 Grosseteste and Bradwardine
CHAPTER 7 Light Streams from Lutterworth
CHAPTER 8 The Morning Star of the Reformation
CHAPTER 9 The Lollard Burnings
CHAPTER 10 The New Learning and the New Dynasty
CHAPTER 11 War, Marriage and Preaching
CHAPTER 12 Wolsey’s Rise to Power
CHAPTER 13 The Need for Reformation
Jesus is LORD~ Merry Christmas christians!
Sister Anna Maria Spiccata| 12.14.11 @ 9:06PM
And Merry Christmas to you, Margie.
Take time to listen to "Ave Maria," Shubert's version, and meditate on our Blessed Holy Mother as you drink in the divine melody and lyrics.
Margie| 12.14.11 @ 9:13PM
I prefer Handel's Messiah.
The lyrics are all from the Bible, which do not include any such "Holy Mother." That's bunk, and I never did go for bunk.
Merry Christmas Troll~ oh, and remember to keep the CHRIST in Christmas!
Nick| 12.14.11 @ 11:57PM
Margie,
Why are you promoting the Presbyterian church? I thought you didn't believe in denominationalism?
Aren't Presbyterians also a bunch of lying Papists? Isn't RCV a Presbyterian?
Merry Christ's Mass, and God Bless!
Vlady| 12.15.11 @ 9:03AM
"remember to keep the CHRIST in Christmas!"
Even better, it seems old Margie is promoting the Knights of Columbus.... Isn't that one of their yearly things, keeping Christ in Christmas?
POST American| 12.15.11 @ 1:02AM
"Understand, religion is the KEY
to history. Among the Christians, ONLY
the Calvinists possessed the faculty for
self-government, and ONLY the Calvinists
would fight."
-Lord Acton
"John Calvin was America's REAL founding
father."
-George Bancroft
America's First Historian
1830
SO, start grabbing that Geneva Bible,
start downloading that John Gill, John Bunyan
and John Calvin.
START cleaning out your churches or staring your own.
Make a defintive break with RED China wampum, franchise slum X---Miss.
---------YOUR LIFE NOW DEPENDS ON IT---------
Vasu Murti | 12.24.11 @ 3:23PM
(The folk song below receives airplay on KFOG 104.5 here in the SF Bay Area during the holiday season.)
"Well, Jesus was a homeless lad
"With an unwed mother and an absent dad
"And I really don't think he would have gotten that far
"If Newt, Pat and Jesse had followed that star
"So let's all sing out praises to
"That long-haired radical socialist Jew
"When Jesus taught the people he
"Would never charge a tuition fee
"He just took some loaves, took some bread
"And made up free school lunches instead
"So let's all sing out praises to
"That long-haired radical socialist Jew
"He healed the blind and made them see
"He brought the lame folks to their feet
"Rich and poor, any time, anywhere
"Just pioneering that free health care
"So let's all sing out praises to
"That long-haired radical socialist Jew
"Jesus hung with a low-life crowd
"But those working stiffs sure did him proud
"Some were murderers, thieves and whores
"But at least they didn't do it as legislators
"So let's all sing out praises to
"That long-haired radical socialist Jew
"Jesus lived in troubled times
"The religious right was on the rise
"Oh what could have saved him from his terrible fate?
"Separation of church and state!
"So let's all sing out praises to
"That long-haired radical socialist Jew
"Sometimes I fall into deep despair
"When I hear those hypocrites on the air
"But every Sunday gives me hope
"When pastor, deacon, priest, and pope
"Are all singing out their praises to
"Some long-haired radical socialist Jew.
"They're all singing out their praises to
"Some long-haired radical socialist Jew.."
(written and performed by Hugh Blumenfeld)