More NPR Coverage of Drinking

God, I've been such a bad blogger lately. I'm just reduced to linking to NPR stories.

Nonetheless, this is a great listen: On Fresh Air, Terri Gross interviews author Daniel Okrent about his study of Prohibition titled Last Call. As a political journalist, the political dynamics of that movement are fascinating to me – the women's suffrage movement, which otherwise I greatly admire, was a leading force in the wrongheaded drive to take away Americans' right to enjoy a drink. And thusly, America's brewers, which I *hic* otherwise greatly admire, became a leading force against women's suffrage. And there was a strong racist/xenophobic element to the prohibitionist movement – many of the leading brewers were German immigrants, and as World War I raged, the Germans became The Enemy and easy targets.

And that's only the tip of the iceberg of this really interesting interview. Check it out.