LIBERATED SPIRITS Two Women Who Battled Over Prohibition

For some listeners, this audiobook may be as dry as America was supposed to be when Prohibition was the law of the land. Others may appreciate this carefully researched, provocative account of an era when a noble experiment failed catastrophically. Ambrose focuses on Mabel Willebrandt, U.S. assistant district attorney and Prohibition zealot, and on Pauline Sabin, society lady and Republican politician who eventually led the effort for the amendment's repeal. We learn about these women, the political importance of the newly enfranchised woman voter, corrupt politicians, rumrunners, crooked law enforcement, and the growing public disillusionment through the steady, deliberative voice of Cassandra Campbell. This production sounds like a college lecture with a new slant on an important period in American history. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2018]