Summary Of Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America By Edward Behr

In the novel Prohibition: Thirteen Years that changed America, author Edward Behr

thoroughly explained the Prohibition movement through different people’s points of view. He

first starts with George Remus, a famous bootlegger and his wife Imogene’s story of the

consequences of overconsumption of alcohol during the Prohibition time period. He gives the

reader into the insight of George Remus’s trial for the murder of his wife and how Remus played

the courts by claiming that he was mentally ill during the act of murder. The courts believed this

accusation and ruled Remus not guilty of his wife, Imogene’s murder. He was however sent to a

sanitarium for being mentality ill. Behr then goes on to explain the effects of the Prohibition

He gives the

reader insight on some of the organizations that also came about during this period such as the

Anti-Saloon League (ASL) and the sermons that leader, Wayne Wheeler, preached to people

about Prohibition. Author Edward Behr also informed the reader of the ‘women’s war’ and their

point of view towards the Prohibition movement as they fought for their rights, for example,

their right to vote.

Throughout the novel Edward Behr gives facts and instances that happened during this

Prohibition time period, all the while giving the reader both sides of the story and both views of

those for and against the Prohibition movement. He later, towards the end of the book, tells the

Faith Crawford

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reader that he is in fact against the Prohibition movement. In the beginning of the novel, Behr is

sure to include a quote and idea by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan at the time saying that no

matter “Legalization or Prohibition” (Behr 5) they both offer “a choice of outcomes”. This

The Prohibition movement simply came out of fear of Puritans and

“decision – makers” of this time period towards the immigrants and their influence on American

society, directly pertaining to alcohol and its effects on society. These activists for prohibition

feared that the immigrants would take their power to make decision in the American society and

that their culture and ways of life would affect their own. Many of these Prohibition activists

were Christians or actively involved in the churches of that time. They viewed the drinking

habits of many American citizens as “ungodly” and lead to evil behavior. They also viewed that

“liquor…was only fit for slaves” (Behr 17) and that you morality and reputation was more

important, leading to their belief that the act of drinking was immoral and wrong of Christians to

do. The main plan of action for Prohibitionists and followers of organization such as the Anti-

Saloon League was to put the fear of God into the lives of drinkers and turn them from their so

called “evil” ways. The reader begins to understand the extremes that Prohibitionists went

through to secure their “power” over others in the American society. The real underlying