WHISKEY AND BLOOD.

WHISKEY AND BLOOD by BENJAMIN BRAD DISON.

A naked killer flees from police, a shootout on Main Street, a fight between police and bootleggers on the running board of a fast-moving Ford Model T, and courtroom drama which went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution spawned an era of lawlessness. Bootleggers and law enforcement officers fought what seemed like a never ending battle, and many people died as a result. In the middle of the prohibition era, four Louisiana officers were killed in the line of duty while enforcing prohibition laws in a two week period. Whiskey and Blood is the shocking but true story of the events leading up to the deaths of officers Neill Yarborough, Sample Toms, Sam Duhon and W.E. Collins, and the aftermath which followed.

- Back Cover Blurb

In the last two decades of the nineteenth century, temperance groups grew strong and powerful, with national prohibition being their goal.

- First Sentence; Introduction

The dirt streets of Saline were now dark. The sun had been down for two hours and the new moon provided no light. The soft glow of coal oil lamps and gas lights lit the stores, but was too dim to provide much light on the streets.

- Memorable Moment; Page 17/18

SOURCE ... A gift from friend a fellow blogger, thanks Kelly of Kelly's Thoughts & Ramblings whose son-in-law is the author.

READ FOR A CHALLENGE? ... No.

MY THOUGHTS ... A short (my only criticism being that at 74 pages it was too short) but highly insightful and interesting book that offers what for me was a rare glimpse into life as it was really lived in this small American town during this era of prohibition. 

With sentences like that shared in my Memorable Moment above, a writer certainly capable of setting the scene, of drawing the reader in; part of me couldn't help but wish that this was actually a novel. But then perhaps facts would have got in the way and, if the astonishing amount of research is anything to go by, the author certainly likes facts. 

Well written; thankfully neither too dry and academic a piece. Full of enough thrills to appeal to those more used to re-imagined accounts of actual events and yet factual enough that it should appeal to those wishing to read it on a purely sociological basis.