Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition

Filled with period art and photographs, anecdotes, and portraits of unique characters from the era, this fascinating book by an award-winning author looks at the rise and fall of the disastrous social experiment known as Prohibition.

It began with the best of intentions. Worried about the effects of alcohol on American families, mothers and civic leaders started a movement to outlaw drinking in public places.

Over time, their protests, petitions, and activism paid off―when a Constitutional Amendment banning the sale and consumption of alcohol was ratified, it was hailed as the end of public drunkenness, alcoholism, and a host of other social ills related to booze. Instead, it began a decade of lawlessness, when children smuggled (and drank) illegal alcohol, the most upright citizens casually broke the law, and a host of notorious gangsters entered the public eye.

Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition is fast-paced non-fiction perfect for anyone who's interested in American history, paricularly the 1920s, gangsters, bootleggers, the history of alcohol in the US, the Eighteenth Amendment and the Constitution, and American politics.



Read more thrilling nonfiction by Karen Blumenthal:
Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Woman Living History (A YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award Finalist)
Tommy: The Gun That Changed America
Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different

Praise for Bootleg:

A Kirkus Best Teen Book of the Year
A School Library Journal's Best Nonfiction Book
A YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist

“A fast-paced, gripping narrative . . . An informative, insightful account of a fascinating period of American history.” ―Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Gangsters, guns, and political battles―this book has them all―and presents them in compelling prose . . . a lively read.” ―School Library Journal, starred review

“Lively anecdotes and personal stories keep the reading brisk and often quite jovial.” ―Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

“A highly readable, well-shaped look at the Eighteenth Amendment . . . a top-notch resource.” ―Booklist, starred review

“The scope is ambitious, but Blumenthal investigates various tangents with telling anecdotes, quotes, statistics, photographs, and illustrations without losing her focus on the bigger picture. Whether you consider ongoing problems with substance abuse or increasingly polarized political discourse, the book is startlingly relevant to modern times in many ways, marking Blumenthal as one of the more intellectually adventurous authors writing for young adults today.” ―Horn Book Magazine

Praise for Bootleg:

A Kirkus Best Teen Book of the Year
A School Library Journal's Best Nonfiction Book
A YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist

“A fast-paced, gripping narrative . . . An informative, insightful account of a fascinating period of American history.” ―Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Gangsters, guns, and political battles―this book has them all―and presents them in compelling prose . . . a lively read.” ―School Library Journal, starred review

“Lively anecdotes and personal stories keep the reading brisk and often quite jovial.” ―Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

“A highly readable, well-shaped look at the Eighteenth Amendment . . . a top-notch resource.” ―Booklist, starred review

“The scope is ambitious, but Blumenthal investigates various tangents with telling anecdotes, quotes, statistics, photographs, and illustrations without losing her focus on the bigger picture. Whether you consider ongoing problems with substance abuse or increasingly polarized political discourse, the book is startlingly relevant to modern times in many ways, marking Blumenthal as one of the more intellectually adventurous authors writing for young adults today.” ―Horn Book Magazine

Karen Blumenthal (1959-2020) was a financial journalist and editor whose career included five years with The Dallas Morning News and twenty-five with The Wall Street Journal―where her work helped earn the paper a Pulitzer Prize for its breaking news coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks―before becoming an award-winning children’s non-fiction book writer.

Three of her books, Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Woman Living History, Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different, and Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition, were finalists for the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award.

Karen was also the author of Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929 (named a Sibert Honor Book), Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX (winner of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award), Tommy: The Gun That Changed America, Bonnie and Clyde: The Making of a Legend, and Jane Against the World: Roe v. Wade and the Fight for Reproductive Rights.