Americans historically have “had an uneven relationship with alcohol,” argues writer Dave Shiflett. “Sometimes they love it. Other times they can’t pour it down the gutters quickly enough.” Alcohol consumption has been a mainstay of American life since colonial times. Social movements urging the avoidance of alcohol as a solution for immorality, crime, and sickness have been prominent in the United States since the early nineteenth century. Organizations such as the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League of America succeeded in persuading lawmakers to ban the sale of alcoholic beverages in several states and, from 1920 to 1933, in the entire United States. However, although alcohol consumption rates did decline during the thirteen years of Prohibition, the so-called “Noble Experiment” was ultimately deemed a failure marked by widespread illicit alcohol consumption...