Leo Koury was at the proverbial crossroads of life. He was in his early 50's and realized that everything he had worked for, including a burgeoning law practice, influence in regional and national politics, and a strong reputation as a man who could get things done, no longer held the same significance it once did. Everything changed when he was compelled to attend the 1994 Billy Graham Crusade in Cleveland. With salvation came clarity, and Koury's life suddenly had perspective. He embarked on a new journey from success to significance and realized the root of his dissatisfaction traced back to the relationship with his father, Fred Koury. In Bootlegger's Son: One Man's Journey from His Earthly Father to His Heavenly Father, Koury shares stories about his amazing journey. He chronicles the often-tenuous relationship with his father, his tumultuous youth, the challenges overcome in building a successful law practice, and his roller-coaster ride in politics that culminated with delivering Lorain County, Ohio, for Jimmy Carter's presidency. More importantly, Koury pulls back the curtain and explores his personal struggles with coming to Christianity and accepting salvation. He talks about humility and the decades he spent fighting against the pull of his old, survival-of-the-fittest ways that were a result of his domineering father, a one-time bootlegger and tavern owner. Although Koury's story is one man's personal testimonial, it is a tale that others can relate to, as his life lessons provide enlightenment to how one's relationship with the Heavenly Father can help create a greater appreciation and understanding of his or her earthly father.

During Prohibition, while Al Capone was rising to worldwide prominence as Public Enemy Number One, the townspeople of Templeton, Iowa—population just 418—were busy with a bootlegging empire of their own. Led by the whip-smart and gregarious Joe Irlbeck, an outfit of farmers, small merchants, and even the church Monsignor together created a whiskey so excellent it was ordered by name: “Templeton rye.” However, a prohibition agent from the adjacent county named Benjamin Franklin Wilson was ardent in his fight against alcohol, and he chased Irlbeck for over a decade. But Irlbeck was not Capone, and Templeton would not be ruled by violence like Chicago. Gentlemen Bootleggers tells a never-before-told tale of ingenuity, bootstrapping, and perseverance, showcasing a group of criminals who embraced the American ideals of self-reliance, dynamism, and democratic justice. It relies on previously classified Prohibition Bureau investigation files, federal court case files, extensive newspaper archive research, and a recently disclosed interview with kingpin Joe Irlbeck. Unlike other Prohibition-era tales of big-city gangsters, it provides an important reminder that bootlegging wasn’t only about glory and riches, but could be in the service of a higher goal: producing the best whiskey money could buy. Bryce T. Bauer is a Hearst Award-winning journalist who has written for Saveur, the Daily Iowan, the Cedar Rapids Gazette, and other publications. He is coproducing and cowriting West Iowa Whiskey Cookers, a documentary on Prohibition-era bootlegging. He lives in New York City.

The controversial football coach recounts his battles with the NCAA as leader of the Oklahoma Sooners, when he was accused of unethical recruitment practices and other violations

From childhood to adulthood Charles (Hardrock) Smith has never met a stranger and never will. Folks are drawn to his friendliness and sense of humor. He loves the Lord and is a most loving husband, father, and grandfather. He is a remarkable man who overcame a difficult childhood, being raised in a bootlegger's home. The family endured hardships such as running from the law, living in shacks, plus enduring mental and physical abuse. Hardrock and his two sisters could never have friends over to spend the night and were taught to lie and, at times, steal corn for their daddy's still. His daddy made moonshine, and his mother sold it in their kitchen, nightly, by the glass. Hardrock and his mother were physically abused by his father. Through it all, though, he never lost his sense of humor which helped his mother and sisters get through tough times. So, in these little pages are memories of his life, living with a bootlegger. Some memories, sealed forever in his mind, are difficult to say the least; some, for a child's recollection, are great memories of family and friends who made this journey joyful and good and helped shape the man Hardrock became, hoping to help others with their journey, adding laughter along the way...grow old, just never grow up!

Moonshine. Mobster. Murder. A rascally, bootlegger and his estranged son struggle to connect after the young man returns from the Great War. Meanwhile, a new gangster has come to stake his claim on the territory and is ready and willing to kill anyone who stands in his way. In 1920, Prohibition was instituted nationwide in Canada and the United States. BOOTLEGGERS is a historical fiction novella weaving a tale of father and son learning to understand and accept one another amidst the era of illegal booze trade on land and sea between the American Northwest and the Canadian coastal islands. For fans of a series like PEAKY BLINDERS, experience the era not explored often enough in film and television.

This is the first comprehensive biography of Willie Brown, one of California's most enduring and controversial politicians. Audacious, driven, talented—Brown has dominated California politics longer and more completely than any other public figure. James Richardson, a senior writer for The Sacramento Bee, takes us from Brown's childhood, through his years as Speaker of the State Assembly, to his election as San Francisco's mayor. Along the way we get a riveting, behind-the-scenes account of three decades of California politics.

This work is an accurate, wide-ranging, and entertaining account of the illegal liquor traffic during the Prohibition Era (1920 to 1933). Based on FBI files, legal documents, old newspapers and other sources, it offers a coast-to-coast survey of Volstead crime--outrageous stories of America's most notorious liquor lords, including Al Capone and Dutch Schultz. Readers will find the lesser known Volstead outlaws to be as fascinating as their more famous counterparts. The riveting tales of Max Hassel, Waxy Gordon, Roy Olmstead, the Purple Gang, the Havre Bunch, and the Capitol Hill Bootlegger will be new to most readers. Likewise, the exploits of women bootleggers and flying bootleggers are unknown to most Americans. Books about Prohibition usually note that Canadian liquor exporters abetted the U.S. bootleggers, but they fail to go into detail. Bootleggers and Beer Barons examines the major cross-border routes for smuggling liquor from Canada into the U.S.: Quebec to Vermont and New York, Ontario to Michigan, Saskatchewan to Montana, and British Columbia to Washington.

Bootlegger is about a Jewish immigrant who became a bootlegger at the age of 19 during Prohibition. By the time he was 24, the government claimed he owed $1.2 million in income taxes. He was a rarity in that he never used violence to achieve his wealth. After three of his breweries in Reading, Pennsylvania were closed down in 1928, he became a partner with Waxey Gordon, the foremost beer baron in the country. Their syndicate in North Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania controlled 17 breweries, according to the Prohibition Bureau. When real beer was legalized in 1933, Hassel became a legitimate brewer by placing a tax stamp on every barrel leaving his breweries. This was in direct opposition to the plans of the Luciano/Lansky forces whose plan was to retain control of the beer and liquor industries after Prohibition. Hassel was killed by mob hit men, setting off an investigation that ruined the mob's scheme. The mystery of who killed Hassel was not solved for almost seventy years. Hassel was not just another beer man who gained considerable wealth in the bootleg racket. He gave to numerous charities and financed a free loan society for the poor during Prohibition. The Hassel Foundation today gives grants totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to worthy causes in the Philadelphia and Reading area.

This extraordinary account of a struggling midwestern coal town profiles small-time bootlegger Kelly Wagle, whose mysterious career--and suspected involvement with two unsolved murder cases--had a profound and lasting impact on his community. In unraveling the process by which Colchester, Illinois, lost its grip on the American promise, John Hallwas reveals this remote corner of the Midwest as a true reflection of the quintessential American experience.