In Last Call, Okrent provides an informed history of the
emergence of Prohibition. Contrary to some popular notions,
according to which the temperance movement was largely a
religious movement, prohibition was the result of a narrow
coalition between a variety of social and political groups with
conflicting political interests, all of which were served in
this way or another by a ban on alcohol consumption. The most
important and surprising of these allies was the movement for
women's suffrage; in fact, many of the important heroines of the
suffragette movement joined the cause so that a vote could be
cast against alcohol. Alcohol consumption was directly related
to gender issues, as the United States had been, for years,
awash with drink, and saloon culture was tied to domestic
violence, squandering of the family budget, and prostitution.
But there were other interesting allies as well. Racism found a
home in the temperance movement, as well; just as with the
criminalization of drugs, some concerns about alc