Daniel Okrent, the first public editor of the New York Times, delivers a comprehensive history of the social experiment that banned alcohol in America from 1920 to 1933. The book examines the unlikely coalition that achieved Prohibition: suffragists who saw alcohol as the enemy of women, Protestant reformers pursuing moral improvement, nativists hostile to immigrant drinking cultures, and progressive reformers who believed government could perfect society. Okrent traces how the Anti-Saloon League mastered single-issue politics to achieve what had seemed impossible: amending the Constitution to outlaw a substance consumed by the majority of Americans. He then chronicles Prohibition's failures: the rise of organized crime, the corruption of law enforcement, the explosion of illegal drinking that mocked the law's intent. The book explores how Americans evaded Prohibition through speakeasies, home brewing, and the 'prescription' of medicinal whiskey, and how the system enriched bootleggers from Al Capone to Joseph Kennedy. Okrent writes with narrative verve about the characters and contradictions of the era, from teetotaling crusaders to flamboyant criminals. He connects Prohibition to broader themes in American politics: the tension between majority rule and individual liberty, the law of unintended consequences, and the recurring American belief that social problems can be solved through legislation.