Footnote 41 — Michael Lewis and Richard F. Hamm, eds., Prohibition’s Greatest Myths: The Distilled Truth About America’s Anti-Alcohol Campaign (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2020).

This is an intriguing scholarly volume of essays marking the centennial of Prohibition in the United States. From the Preface: “This volume began at a conference in the Netherlands when a few prohibition scholars were collectively bemoaning the gap between what historians know about prohibition and what much of the public believes about it…

“As the contributors to the volume were finishing their essays, potent signs of how disruptive alcohol is in our society gave this topic renewed urgency. In a public hearing before a vast audience connected to the scene electronically, a US senator and a nominee for the US Supreme Court questioned each other about whether they drank to the point of memory loss or blackout. Just a week earlier, the World Health Organization had released a massive report on the ill effects of alcohol. It declared that more than 3 million people died because of harmful use of alcohol in 2016. Further, the WHO concluded, “alcohol caused more than 5% of the global disease burden.” Yet, in response to the manifest problems caused by alcohol today, there is no movement seeking to ban alcohol in the United States or throughout much of the world.

“One reason for the lack of such a movement today is that prohibition, especially the American experience of national prohibition, is widely perceived to have been a colossal failure.”

Some of the chapter headings, and myths exploded, in this volume:

“Religious Conservatives Spearheaded the Prohibition Movement”

“Alcohol Consumption Increased During the Prohibition Era”

“Repeal Happened Because Prohibition Was a Failure”

“Prohibition Was Uniquely American”

“Prohibition Changed Little About American Drinking Habits”

“The Current Debates About Marijuana Legalization Are the Same as Those That Ended Prohibition”

And more.