Introduction—Everything You Know about Prohibition Is Wrong

Abstract

The book begins with a vignette of the world’s most famous—and most misunderstood—prohibitionist: the hatchet-wielding saloon smasher, Carrie Nation. A deeper investigation finds that she was anything but the Bible-thumping, conservative evangelical that she’s commonly made out to be; but rather a populist-progressive equal-rights crusader. Chapter 1 lays bare the shortcomings of the dominant historical narrative of temperance and prohibitionism as uniquely American developments resulting from a clash of religious and cultural groups. By examining the global history of prohibition, we can shed new light on the American experience. Answering the fundamental question—why prohibition?—this book argues that temperance was a global resistance movement against imperialism, subjugation, and the predatory capitalism of a liquor traffic in which political and economic elites profited handsomely from the addiction and misery of the people.