When the Rivers Ran Red: An Amazing Story of Courage and Triumph in America's Wine Country

by Vivienne Sosnowski

Book Overview

When Prohibition took effect in 1920, only a few months after one of the greatest California grape harvests of all time, violence and chaos descended on Northern California. Federal agents spilled... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0230605745
• ISBN13: 9780230605749
• Release Date: June 2009
• Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
• Length: 228 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Excellent

What a great book. Easy to read. Insightful, accurate and at times, heartbreaking. This book shows that banning things generally results in bigger and worse problems in the system. Makes you think about our current bans on drugs and prostitution, most likely legalizing them will put a lot of dealers and politicians out of job, and would end our gang problems! God forbid!

What an interesting read!

Being interested in wines and in wine growing (and history), I decided to get this book for my husband, since it seemed like something he would be interested in. It was really an excellent book which gives great insight into the prohibition and how it affected vineyards in California. Compelling read that is just packed with drama and history put together! I loved how it explained, in very neutral terms, why the political forces passed prohibition, and how it affected all the families in California. Very, very interesting read that I highly recommend!

Good Niche History

For the oenophiles out there; this book on a brief time in the history of American wine production should be an enjoyable read. I recommend this book.

Best history I've read in a long time of any era....

This was the most enjoyable and informative book I've read in a while. I grew up listening to my grandfather tell stories about how he and his siblings would sit outside on the front porch and watch the 'shiners race their souped-up hot-rods to outrun the Revenuers past his house on the main road from the mountains of NC into the central Piedmont (folks: those are the origins of NASCAR!). However, I must say I never really considered how the 18th Amendment and the subsequent Volstead Act affected the vineyards of Napa and Sonoma, and that's a terrible shame. This book taught me another important aspect of the Prohibition story and nightmare. The author strikes a perfect balance, alternating between a general history of the Temperance movement and Prohibition itself in Washington and nationwide (including some great political intrigue), while telling personal histories (some from interviews, some from memoirs and other books) about the wine families themselves, the criminal element, the oft-necessity of bootlegging just to stay financially solvent, etc. Her text is meticulously researched with copious documentation, which I value highly as a student of History. Her obvious love of this land shines through in this accounting of its people (largely a first or second-generation immigrant population of patriotic Americans, whether they be workers, bootleggers, or wine-artisans/growers). We leave this reading the richer for having explored her work. NOT to be missed. FIVE wholehearted stars!

California winemakers did not know what hit them on October 28, 1919.

Nestled in the rolling hills north and northeast of San Francisco is an area known as "America's Wine Country." In the latter half of the 19th Century tens of thousands of immigrants from Russia, Italy, Switzerland and France descended on this area determined to make a better life for themselves and their families. For the most part these were simple folk who possessed all of those time-honored values such as honesty, thrift and a willingness to work hard. Many of them had been farmers in the old country. Some had come in search of gold and still others would seek their fortune making wine. In fact, over the next half century literally hundreds of vineyards would be established in Napa and Sonoma counties. It was back breaking work but the rewards were considerable for those who persevered. Like anyone else involved in agriculture, vineyardists were subject to the whims of nature. This was a fact of life that most of these folks could live with. What they were not prepared for, however, was what happened as a result of the passage of the 18th Amendment which outlawed the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages in this country. "When The Rivers Ran Red: An Amazing Story of Courage and Triumph In America's Wine Country" chronicles how life changed for the people of wine country during the 13 years of Prohibition. Passage of the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act literally changed everything here. It is a fascinating story and a case study of what can happen when the federal government passes draconian laws which are clearly unenforceable. For those engaged in the business of winemaking at the outset of Prohibition in 1920 only a few options appeared available. Federal law allowed for the manufacture of "sacramental" wines but this market was clearly very limited. Some growers would opt to sell their grapes for juice while others chose to plant other crops just to survive The fact of the matter is that no one in wine country believed that prohibition would last as long as it did. As time wore on more and more families became desperate. Denied the ability to earn an honest living many vineyard owners turned to the only option the felt they had left--bootlegging--and sold off what wine they had on hand to hotels and speakeasies. Under the cover of night these previously law-abiding citizens shipped illicit vino to cities as close as San Francisco and as far away as New York and Chicago. With all of this of course came great risk. If they were nabbed by the federal authorities they were subject to stiff fines and possible arrest. In many cases federal Prohibition officers would descend on their property and empty their tanks into the local river or creek. Years of hard work literally went down the drain in just a few minutes. Meanwhile, many local law enforcement officers, clearly sympathetic to the plight of their friends and neighbors, would attempt to thwart the feds. It was an unsettling and me