Thanks to University of Chicago Press and NetGalley for this free ARC in return for my honest review.

Really well done effort by the author, as she traces the lives of 4 women who were instrumental in both the adoption of the 18th Amendment for Prohibition and then its eventual repeal. Two were from each side, and their stories are truly fascinating, as we had true believers on both sides of the political discourse. And, here is the kicker, I never hear of any of these ladies. So a great big Thank You to the author for really educating me on this topic. The book is well designed and the ladies stories intersect at times. I was especially fascinated about the story of the woman who was an Assistant US Attorney General and was given the task of prosecuting these cases for violation of the Volstead Act. What a huge rise and then precipitous fall to her career at that position. Women were much more involved in this entire debate than I has ever known. While Capone and the gangsters were well known, these 4 ladies were the unsung warriors in the Prohibition debate.

Women's History is fascinating, and I love seeing stories like this come to life on the page. I know non-fiction isn't the most well-loved genre. But I love getting introduced to women during historic events that would've been lost to history if authors like Diliberto didn't write their stories. These women were easy to connect with and I appreciated their willingness to admit that they were wrong. Prohibition was meant to be fixing problems like corruption, crime, and violence. Instead it made these problems even more prevalent in communities. Women like Pauline Sabine (who was one of my absolute faves mentioned in this) realized the hypocrisy of Prohibition and fought to have it repealed. I thought this was a well thought out novel and was very engaging.

This book does a great job of weaving together the stories of four women that made and unmade Prohibition. This era of history has always been interesting to me and it was great to learn more about these unsung women that had so much influence during that era. I do think the book focused far more on Pauline & Mabel than it did on Texas & Ella, and the constant use of exact addresses of houses was a bit strange and annoying to read.

This was a fascinating read! I really enjoyed the way Diliberto brought these women and their historical relevance to life. I liked that the chapters intermingled the women's stories, rather than focusing on a single woman at a time. It made the interplay between their spheres and actions all the clearer and made for a more engaging read as well. The writing here is easy to engage with and the women themselves so compelling in their differences and personalities that the book read more like a novel than like non-fiction.