Bootleggers, Library of Congress

December 5th marks the 79th anniversary of Prohibition’s repeal. In retrospect, Prohibition can seem like a colossal waste of resources. But at the time, there were plenty of Americans who believed in the project wholeheartedly. In fact, for them it was the culmination of almost a century’s worth of anti-alcohol activism.

In this episode of BackStory, the American History Guys explore the twists and turns of our country’s relationship with alcohol. From the founding era through the temperance movement, Prohibition, and beyond, they look at when and why drinking has ebbed and flowed.

Guests Include:

• Sarah Hand Meacham, Virginia Commonwealth University
• James Morone, Brown University
• Peter Mancall, University of Southern California

Show Segments

Further Exploration

Resources galore! The BackStory team has pulled together some outside material, including a bibliography of resources consulted in the making of this show.

Even Further

See a listing of music used in the episode.

Bootleggers, Library of Congress

The cliche may be  that apple pie is the most quintessentially American of foods but, in truth, hard apple cider might stake a more rightful claim to that title. Alcohol and our taste for it has shaped this country from its inception, when the founding fathers themselves played a role in encouraging our national hankering for the hard stuff: Jefferson loved his hard cider and wine, Washington had a thing for rum, and Benjamin Franklin loved it all so much he compiled a list of 228 synonyms for “drunk” into what is known as “The Drinker’s Dictionary.”

In this hour of BackStory, we’re all about the boozin’.  Along the way, we ask when and why consumption and production has ebbed and flowed. We  look at why rum became the drink of choice among revolutionary troops, explore why American Indians were rejecting alcohol two centuries before the rest of the country, and follow the long march toward Prohibition. Originally produced a few years ago, this episode has been revised to include new segments and reflect fresh insight into the subject.

Guests Include:

• Sarah Hand Meacham, Associate Professor of History at Virginia Commonwealth University
• James Morone, Professor of Political Science and Urban Studies, Brown University
• Peter Mancall, Professor of History and Anthropology, University of Southern California

Show Segments

Further Exploration

Resources galore! The BackStory team has pulled together some outside material, including a bibliography of resources consulted in the making of this show.

Even Further

See a listing of music used in the episode.

Guests Include:

• Roger Staubach, former quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys
• Anne Blue Wills, Professor of Religion and author of “Pilgrims and Progress: How Magazines Made Thanksgiving” (PDF)
• Joanne Bowen, Curator of Zooarchaeology at Colonial Williamsburg
• James McWilliams, historian and author of A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America

Web Exclusives

So that you might have something to look at while listening to a couple of highlights from our show, we compiled two special audio slide shows. Watch them here.

Further Reading

Want to learn more about the history of Thanksgiving? Check out a list of sources that the History Guys put together to learn more.

Even Further

• Full Show Transcript

Show Highlights

• The Politics of Drink — Historian James Morone explains what nativism, racism, and women’s suffrage had to do with the temperance movement of the early 20th century. And he argues that Prohibition was not the abysmal failure it’s often made out to be.

Related Links

• The US Brewers Foundation gives a lesson in history
• Find out why a few college presidents would prefer a lower drinking age
• Imbibe the secret history of rum
• Slur your words with Benjamin Franklin’s complete Drinker’s Dictionary
• Visit Chuck and Jeanette Miller’s Belmont Farm Distillery in Culpeper, VA
• Read an excerpt of James Morone’s award-winning book, Hellfire Nation
• When whiskey was the king of drink