Marni Davis Jews and Booze: Becoming American in the Age of Prohibition Monday, February 27, 7:30 pm $10; Member/EntryPointDC/Student with ID/Senior $8
At the turn of the century, American Jews and prohibitionists viewed one another with growing suspicion. Jews believed that all Americans had the right to sell and consume alcohol, while prohibitionists insisted that alcohol commerce and consumption posed a threat to the nation’s morality and security. The two groups possessed incompatible visions of what it meant to be a productive and patriotic American--and in 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution made alcohol commerce illegal, Jews discovered that anti-Semitic sentiments had mixed with anti-alcohol ideology, threatening their reputation and their standing in American society.
Marni Davis is Assistant Professor of History at Georgia State University.
“Lively, well-researched, and comprehensive, this will long stand as the definitive study of Jews, booze, and evolving American taboos.” -Jonathan D. Sarna,author of American Judaism: A History
"In her debut, Davis suggests that anti-Semitism and Prohibition were parallel expressions of political disquiet during the turn of the last century...A fascinating, nuanced social history." -Kirkus
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