The Prohibition Era: America's War on Alcohol
October 22, 2024 by First Second
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Even though I live in the former "Dry Capital of the World", Westerville, Ohio, I would disagree only with the author's assertion that everybody thinks they know about Prohibition. Fifty years ago, certainly. There were people around with active memories of the time, and there was more representation in books and films. We also need to remember that today's tweens and teens seem to have only the vaguest sense of the past. Westerville sadly started to allow alcohol to be sold again in 2004, and I would imagine that most of my students don't know that it was ever banned.
That being said, this is a fantastic book. It is absolutely packed with a myriad of details, so much so that I'm not even sure where to start. The book itself starts with what alcohol actually does in the body, which I can't say I knew in so much detail. It talks about the history of alcohol in the world and the US, touching on topics like the amount of beer consumed by the average person in Colonial times, and even a bit about Johnny Appleseed and fermented cider. The fact that alcohol was often problematic in families is definitely addressed, as is the political reasons behind Prohibition. We do see famous players during this time, like Carry A. Nation and Al Capone on the cover, and Speakeasies definitely get a thorough exploration. This even manages to tie in the women's movement, which is really a crucial element.
These History Comics are all extremely well done and informative. I, for example, learned that saloons were sort of like settlement houses for men, who could come to get loans, jobs, food, and various kinds of help, but that they were funded by breweries that had political interests, so in exchange for help, the men would vote however they were told to vote. I knew about the political corruption in cities in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but I didn't know about it on this grassroots level.
This is told from the perspective of "John Barleycorn", a concept that is well explained at the beginning of the book, and it's a fun way to personalize and approach the topic for young readers, but I would have been fine with a more straightforward approach. I wasn't all that happy with the way that Carrie Nation was illustrated, but she was portrayed in a fairly sympathetic fashion, when she so easily could have just been the punch line to a joke. My grandmother was in the Women's Christian Temperance Union because she was a very religious Presbyterian, and I've always found it odd that some people don't know that Prohibition was in large part a feminist and family safety issue, since men would often drink up the family's earnings and then become abusive. This issue is addressed and treated fairly.
Prohibition has also become associated with racism, and this book even unpacks that information in a fair way, which I appreciated. There is a helpful timeline at the end of the book, but no index. It's understandable-- the index would probably add another 15 pages to the book-- but regrettable, because an index would make this much easier to use for research.
The Prohibition Era: America's War on Alcohol had even more information than the traditional nonfiction book Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition (2011) by the fantastic and sadly missed nonfiction author Karen Blumnenthal. I'm not entirely sure how many of my students will actually make it all the way through the book, but I buy these comics because they are so informative.
October 29, 2024 by Random House Graphic
E ARC provided by Netgalley
In this sequel to Growing Pangs, Katie is dealing with the fact that her two best friends have to go visit a sick relative for a long time, and she has to go to her church group by herself, where she doesn't feel very comfortable. She does have a job babysitting, which is a challenge she enjoys. She also likes going to the local theater group, where she tries out for the lead role in ANNIE. She doesn't get it, but makes friends with Grace. Katie is not a fan of all of the trappings of puberty, especially when talk at church turns rather sexist and judgemental about girls and women, and especially about the "evils" of same sex relationships. Since she starts to recognize that her feelings for Grace are more of a crush, what does this mean?
This is a good choice for readers who like the tween angst in graphic novels like Miller's Curlfriends, Hale's Best Friends, Johnson's Twins, Gros' Jo, or Knisley's Stepping Stones. It's similar to Dee's Star Crossed, but set in the 1990s.
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