Prohibition: How it Happened, Why it Failed, and How it Still Affects America Today

Prohibition: How it Happened, Why it Failed, and How it Still Affects America Today

America has a strange relationship with alcohol. Certain drinks represented the darkest parts of the national psyche. Rum was once associated with slavery because sugar cane plantations that made rum were only profitable with chattel slavery. Whisky and hard cider were omnipresent in the 19th century, turning able-bodied men into drunkards who couldn't support their families and left them to starve.




But it was Prohibition that is strangest of all. America successfully outlawed alcohol, the first and only modern nation to do so. The unintended consequences were enormous: from physicians falsifying alcohol's positive effects so they could write prescriptions for “medicine” and make a handsome profit, to record numbers of men converting to Judaism so they could administer alcohol in rabbinical ceremonies.




Here to untangle the Gordion knot of alcohol in America's past is Cody Wheat from the Shots of History Podcast.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jaksot(1077)

The Chemistry of Conquest: Behind the USSR’s State-Sponsored (and Steroid-Powered) Olympic Glory

The Chemistry of Conquest: Behind the USSR’s State-Sponsored (and Steroid-Powered) Olympic Glory

Since the era of Joseph Stalin, Moscow’s rulers have sent Russian athletes into the Summer and Winter Olympics with one command: you must win. These competitors operated under a "win-at-all-costs" doc...

19 Helmi 1h 3min

Daniel Boone’s Life as a Frontiersman and Adopted Son of a Shawnee Chief

Daniel Boone’s Life as a Frontiersman and Adopted Son of a Shawnee Chief

Daniel Boone is considered one of the United States' first folk heroes for his exploration beyond the thirteen colonies into Kentucky. His exploits are rightfully legendary. He famously rescued his da...

17 Helmi 42min

The Loss and Re-Discovery of the $20 Billion Imperial Spanish Treasure Ship

The Loss and Re-Discovery of the $20 Billion Imperial Spanish Treasure Ship

The most valuable shipwreck of all time is the San José galleon—an 18th century Spanish ship that carried 11 million gold coins, silver, and emeralds—and worth $20 billion in today's currency. It sunk...

12 Helmi 51min

Thomas Willing: The Revolutionary War Arms Dealer Who Led the First Bank of the United States

Thomas Willing: The Revolutionary War Arms Dealer Who Led the First Bank of the United States

America’s revolutionary war would have almost certainly been lost if not for the colony’s wealthiest merchant. Thomas Willing was a prominent Philadelphia merchant and financier who, in partnership wi...

10 Helmi 54min

The Man Who Sold the War: Tom Paine's Journey from Common Sense to Global Firebrand

The Man Who Sold the War: Tom Paine's Journey from Common Sense to Global Firebrand

Most of us only know Thomas Paine for one thing: writing Common Sense in 1776, which helped kickstart the Revolution by selling hundreds of thousands of copies. But he was far more than a writer. Pain...

5 Helmi 44min

The Original Body Builders: How Greek Halteres and Celtic Gabal Stone Lifts Built the World's First Strongmen

The Original Body Builders: How Greek Halteres and Celtic Gabal Stone Lifts Built the World's First Strongmen

Fad workouts have been with us for decades, but they go back much further than we realize. Long before CrossFit, Zumba, P90X, Tae Box, Jazzercise or Jack LaLanne, we had 19th century strongmen. These ...

3 Helmi 48min

Truman’s Deep Regret at the Atomic Age He Created

Truman’s Deep Regret at the Atomic Age He Created

In the eight decades since the United States deployed the most destructive weapon ever used, conventional wisdom has held that American leaders were faced with a difficult choice: Invade Japan, which ...

29 Tammi 57min

How Soccer Created African and Latin American Nations

How Soccer Created African and Latin American Nations

National pride often comes from shared heritage—like a common language or ethnic background. Religious Nationalism can be seen in historical Russia, where being part of the Orthodox Church was conside...

27 Tammi 46min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

sita
olipa-kerran-otsikko
kaksi-aitia
ihme-ja-kumma
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
i-dont-like-mondays
uutiscast
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
kolme-kaannekohtaa
mamma-mia
rss-murhan-anatomia
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
aikalisa
rss-nikotellen
meidan-pitais-puhua
loukussa
naakkavalta
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2