Jews and Booze: Becoming American in the Age of Prohibition

Finalist, 2014 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature from the Jewish Book Council

Traces American Jews’ complicated relationship to alcohol through the years leading up to and after prohibition

From kosher wine to their ties to the liquor trade in Europe, Jews have a longstanding historical relationship with alcohol. But once prohibition hit America, American Jews were forced to choose between abandoning their historical connection to alcohol and remaining outside the American mainstream.

In J...