Closing Time by Daniel Francis provides a good account of the border wars and smuggling across the northern border. Robert Rockaway’s article “The Notorious Purple Gang” details the gang’s origin as well as the Cleaners and Dyers War.
For information about the link between Prohibition and organized crime in Chicago, Gus Russo’s The Outfit and Get Capone by ... Show More
Mar 2018
Prohibition - We Want Beer | 6
<p>The people had spoken: They wanted beer, and they wanted it now, but not just for drinking. Protestors wanted the jobs that came with breweries, and the country was desperate from the money that could come from alcohol taxes. As quickly as temperance organizations sprang up in ... Show More
34m 38s
Mar 2018
Prohibition | Interview with Lillian Cunningham | 7
<p>Do you know the record for the longest ratification period of any constitutional amendment? Lillian Cunningham did. She’s an editor with the Washington Post, host of two outstanding American History podcasts, Presidential and Constitutional, and she’s our guest today. </p ... Show More
32m 35s
Mar 2018
The Age of Jackson | Washington Burns | 1
<p>In August 1814, the White House burned. A fire that would eventually consume the entire nation in Civil War was already burning. This is Antebellum America.</p><p>This is the adolescence of the United States, when the country grew at tremendous speed, and when fundamental ques ... Show More
35m 3s
Apr 2024
The Rise & Fall of Al Capone
<p>Al Capone is one of the most notorious gangsters in US history. His story of rags to riches, set against the backdrop of the prohibition era, is worthy of the many movies that it has inspired.</p><br><p>Violent mobster, genius businessman or<em> </em>semi-professional baseball ... Show More
50m 34s
Aug 2021
Colonies and the Quest for Resources in Early Modern Europe: Interview with Dr. Keith Pluymers
<p>Friend of the Show Dr. Keith Pluymers returns to tell us about how people thought about and fought over resources, especially wood, in early modern England. Scarcity, Keith argues, is more about perception than an actual lack of resources. Different groups within society had d ... Show More
52m 39s
Sep 2023
194: The History of the Dixie Mafia
By the 1960s, organized crime gangs were well and truly already becoming a presence across the north of the United States, as underworld figures fought for sole control over highly lucrative gambling, illegal alcohol, and prostitution rings. Down south, things were done a slightl ... Show More
22m 34s
Oct 2023
Absinthe with The Gilded Gentleman (and Roosters!)
While we're on a Field Trip, we turned the show over to the Roosters this week with a Veuve Clicquot adjacent subject: The History of Absinthe with The Gilded Gentleman, Carl Raymond. Keep an ear out for cameos from Bowery Boy Greg Young, and Chris Graham Beckett's husband. Carl ... Show More
52m 40s