Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

While this book was very educational, it was almost too boring at times. It read like a textbook most of the time and I do not think this will appeal to teens at all unless they have a special interest in Prohibition. The title itself Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition makes the book seem more wild than it is, and doesn’t coincide with the picture on the cover, which shows two men pouring bottles of alcohol into sewage. Nothing wild about that. The parts that were the most interesting to me were the ones about Al Capone. The beginnings of Prohibition, with the women of Midwest starting an alliance to end alcohol assumption, while being interesting at times, was also hard to get through; it was very dry (no pun intended) and would have been better if it had been summarized instead of drawn out. The book is short and can be read quickly depending on the type of reader, but if a book promises murder and lawless years, it should deliver. Yes, hardly anyone paid attention to Prohibition except for federal agents, and yes, there was a lot of murder because of gang crimes, but that doesn’t really get mentioned until halfway through the book. It’s just not exciting. A lot of research was done and I appreciate that, the pictures in the book are nice accompaniments, and the glossary is a nice addition for people who don’t understand the terminology, but in the epilogue, Blumenthal randomly mentions Mothers Against Drunk Driving and how it got started and then ends the book with a message telling teenagers that they are responsible for their own behavior and that although Prohibition was meant to be good, nothing turned out as planned, Prohibition will probably never come back, and that people will have to learn not to overdo it with alcohol. It seemed a strange way to end the book and unnecessary to add that bit of ethics about safe drinking at the end. Wouldn’t the reader be able to determine the dangers of alcohol just by reading the history of Prohibition in the first place in this book? That it caused people to do stupid things? This book does what it needs to do for the most part, just not in a fun way; teens young and old may find this useful for any research projects on Prohibition and the 18th Amendment, but probably not for pleasure reading.