I can’t stop talking to people about The Ghosts of Eden Park by Karen Abbott. This book knocked me off my feet. It is such a fascinating history of prohibition and bootlegging while also being a great biography of some terrible people. Plus, there is murder!
I knew very little about bootlegging apart from the little bits and pieces that I have heard here and there. Abbott follows George Remus, once hailed the “King of the Bootleggers,” as he switches from his life as a lawyer in Chicago to become a bootlegger in Cincinnati. Abbott uses Remus as a point in which to tell the story of bootlegging in general as well as the history of the U.S. Attorney’s office and their investigations into illegal alcohol sales.
I couldn’t help but share facts as I read them with whoever happened to be around me at the time. Remus’s story (and Abbott’s writing of it) read like a crazy, twisty thriller, making it hard for me to put this book down. I throughly enjoyed it and think that everyone should take the time to join Abbott in the craziness of the bootlegging world.
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