I would still recommend Sinclair, certainly over Behr. Sinclair may not have used many manuscript sources but he did rely on contemporary material - the vast amount that was published about Prohibition at the time it was in force. I am not sure how much of this Behr read for his book. And his writing lacks Sinclair's literacy and style. Maybe I am being prejudiced. As Kerr says, Sinclair is out of date in ignoring the relationship between Prohibition and progressivism, but I do not know whether he was regarded as backward in his time: important books such as Timberlake's "Prohibition and the Progressive Movement" postdate him, I believe. I am sure that Kerr is right that British scholars fail to appreciate the part played by progressivism and the desire for national self-improvement in American history; the notion is certainly dealt with in my forthcoming (March) "Drink: a social history of America" but whether I have given it sufficient weight will be for others to say. It appears evident to me that Britain is a more suspicious and pessimisitic society, and America a more credulous and optimistic one. Maybe each fails to appreciate this aspect of the other. What I do not know, and might be worthy of invesigation, is the extent of self-awareness of each society about this characteristic and the part that it has played in its history and its relationship with the other. Does anyone know of anything that has been written on this subject?