I hesitate to join in this discussion, because I am the author of a book
(now out of print) on the Anti Saloon League.  However, I would urge
caution about praising Andrew Sinclair's work, as it is based on very
little manuscript source material and takes a viewpoint that is quite
insensitive to the progressivism that American prohibition represented.  I
have not read Behr's book, but the content of the A&E program based on his
book, and what he said on camera, makes me not to want to read it.  (I
spent several days consulting with the producer and director of that
program; the on camera interview with me found no place in the final
version, perhaps because what I said did not fit the out-of-date
stereotypes Behr's book represented.  I did find the producer and director,
however, very well informed personally about scholarship on American
prohibition.)

In my limited experience, I have never met a British scholar who seemed to
understand that American prohibition fits in with a long tradition of
seeking to control business corporations, in this case so as to deal with a
very real human and social problem of alcohol misuse and abuse.  Although
prohibition did not last as a public policy (neither did much of
progressive era effort to control the power of business corporations), the
alcohol abuse problems remain with us.  I suspect that today alcohol is the
single most widely abused drug in the United States (perhaps surpassed by
nicotine).  Certainly alcohol and nicotine are the most widely abused drugs
on my campus.  Although I do not agree with the prohibitionists, I can
understand why some persons might wish more closely to regulate, if not ban
outright, the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages,
having witnessed their potentially devastating effects in members of my own
family.

Part of the reason I developed the web site
http://www.history.ohio-state.edu/projects/prohibition/default.htm is to
present information, and a viewpoint, that runs contrary to the persistent
popular stereotypes represented by Behr's book.  It is a very popular site,
with thousands of visitors every month.





K. Austin Kerr
http://www.history.ohio-state.edu/people/kerr.htm
Professor of History at Ohio State University
Columbus, OH 43210
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Voice: 614-292-2613
Fax:   614-292-2282