During Prohibition, while Al Capone was rising to worldwide prominence as Public Enemy Number One, the townspeople of Templeton, Iowa—population just 418—were busy with a bootlegging empire of their own. Led by the whip-smart and gregarious Joe Irlbeck, an outfit of farmers, small merchants, and even the church Monsignor together created a whiskey so excellent it was ordered by name: “Templeton rye.” However, a prohibition agent from the adjacent county named Benjamin Franklin Wilson was ardent in his fight against alcohol, and he chased Irlbeck for over a decade. But Irlbeck was not Capone, and Templeton would not be ruled by violence like Chicago. Gentlemen Bootleggers tells a never-before-told tale of ingenuity, bootstrapping, and perseverance, showcasing a group of criminals who embraced the American ideals of self-reliance, dynamism, and democratic justice. It relies on previously classified Prohibition Bureau investigation files, federal court case files, extensive newspaper archive research, and a recently disclosed interview with kingpin Joe Irlbeck. Unlike other Prohibition-era tales of big-city gangsters, it provides an important reminder that bootlegging wasn’t only about glory and riches, but could be in the service of a higher goal: producing the best whiskey money could buy. Bryce T. Bauer is a Hearst Award-winning journalist who has written for Saveur, the Daily Iowan, the Cedar Rapids Gazette, and other publications. He is coproducing and cowriting West Iowa Whiskey Cookers, a documentary on Prohibition-era bootlegging. He lives in New York City.

Prohibition was imposed by eager temperance movements organizers who sought to shape public behavior through alcoholic beverage control in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The success of reformers' efforts resulted in National Prohibition in America from 1920 to 1933, but it also resulted in a thriving illegal business in the manufacture and distribution of illegal liquor. The history of Prohibition and the resulting illegal drinking is frequently told through the lens of crime and violence in Chicago and other major East Coast cities. Often neglected are the effects of Prohibition on the Western part of the United States and how Westerners rose to the challenge of avoiding the consequences of illegal drinking. Illegal liquor was imported from abroad, made in stills using strange ingredients that were sometimes poisonous to the unlucky drinker. This history includes stories ranging from serious to quirky, and provides an entertaining account of how misguided efforts resulted in numerous unintended consequences.

To his family and friends and neighbors in the Italian-American community known as Garlic Gulch in Seattle, Frank Gatt was a respected and generous businessman. But to the federal agents who tracked his and his brother John's businesses for years, Frank Gatt was one of the most notorious and successful bootleggers in the Pacific Northwest. For nearly 20 years, his life revolved around hiding from police, federal agents, and his own misgivings; four adventures in courtroom trials; and two stays at the federal penitentiary on McNeil Island in the Puget Sound. Wrapped in between all of that was a unique friendship with one of the legendary photographers of the West, Asahel Curtis, identified as Ace in this book. This book is a "must read" to learn about Seattle's eye-opening history during Prohibition. It is also just a great story.

While known for the twang of its country music, Nashville is also home to a colorful and salacious past. A must-read for Nashville history enthusiasts. The earliest settlers to lay claim to the land surrounding Nashville brought with them betrayal, murder and thievery. As the city grew, authorities unsuccessfully attempted to outlaw and remove vice. During the Civil War, the number of soiled doves in Nashville forced the army to legalize and regulate prostitution. The death of outspoken politician Edward Carmack triggered the state to outlaw booze for nearly thirty years, but that did not stop alcohol from flowing in the city. One local mayor even bragged about his patronage of saloons. Elizabeth Goetsch dives into Nashville's wicked past and explores some of Music City'smore tantalizing history.

Often overlooked in the history of Progressive Era labor, the hoboes who rode the rails in search of seasonal work have nevertheless secured a place in the American imagination. The stories of the men who hunted work between city and countryside, men alternately portrayed as either romantic adventurers or degenerate outsiders, have not been easy to find. Nor have these stories found a comfortable home in either rural or labor histories. Indispensable Outcasts weaves together history, anthropology, gender studies, and literary analysis to reposition these workers at the center of Progressive Era debates over class, race, manly responsibility, community, and citizenship. Combining incisive cultural criticism with the empiricism of a more traditional labor history, Frank Tobias Higbie illustrates how these so-called marginal figures were in fact integral to the communities they briefly inhabited and to the cultural conflicts over class, masculinity, and sexuality they embodied. He draws from life histories, the investigations of social reformers, and the organizing materials of the Industrial Workers of the World and presents a complex and compelling portrait of hobo life, from its often violent and dangerous working conditions to its ethic of "transient mutuality" that enabled survival and resistance on the road. More than a study of hobo life, this interdisciplinary book is also a meditation on the possibilities for writing history from the bottom up, as well as a frank discussion of the ways historians' fascination with personal narrative has colored their construction and presentation of history.