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Smuggler Nation: How Illicit Trade Made America
America is a smuggler nation. Our long history of illicit imports has ranged from West Indies molasses and Dutch gunpowder in the 18th century, to British industrial technologies and African slaves in the 19th century, to French condoms and Canadian booze in the early 20th century, to Mexican workers and Colombian cocaine in the modern era. Contraband capitalism, it turns out, has been an integral part of American capitalism.
Providing a sweeping narrative history from colonial times to the present, Smuggler Nation is now available in paperback to retell the story of America -- and of its engagement with its neighbors and the rest of the world -- as a series of highly contentious battles over clandestine commerce. As Peter Andreas demonstrates in this provocative and fascinating work, smuggling has played a pivotal and too often overlooked role in America's birth, westward expansion, and economic development, while anti-smuggling campaigns have dramatically enhanced the federal government's policing powers. The great irony, Andreas tells us, is that a country that was born and grew up through smuggling is today the world's leading anti-smuggling crusader.
In tracing America's long and often tortuous relationship with the murky underworld of smuggling, Andreas provides a much-needed antidote to today's hyperbolic depictions of out-of-control borders and growing global crime threats. Urgent calls by politicians and pundits to regain control of the nation's borders suffer from a severe case of historical amnesia, nostalgically implying that they were ever actually under control. This is pure mythology, says Andreas. For better and for worse, America's borders have always been highly porous.
Far from being a new and unprecedented danger to America, the illicit underside of globalization is actually an old American tradition. As Andreas shows, it goes back not just decades but centuries. And its impact has been decidedly double-edged, not only subverting U.S. laws but also helping to fuel America's evolution from a remote British colony to the world's pre-eminent superpower.
Providing a sweeping narrative history from colonial times to the present, Smuggler Nation is now available in paperback to retell the story of America -- and of its engagement with its neighbors and the rest of the world -- as a series of highly contentious battles over clandestine commerce. As Peter Andreas demonstrates in this provocative and fascinating work, smuggling has played a pivotal and too often overlooked role in America's birth, westward expansion, and economic development, while anti-smuggling campaigns have dramatically enhanced the federal government's policing powers. The great irony, Andreas tells us, is that a country that was born and grew up through smuggling is today the world's leading anti-smuggling crusader.
In tracing America's long and often tortuous relationship with the murky underworld of smuggling, Andreas provides a much-needed antidote to today's hyperbolic depictions of out-of-control borders and growing global crime threats. Urgent calls by politicians and pundits to regain control of the nation's borders suffer from a severe case of historical amnesia, nostalgically implying that they were ever actually under control. This is pure mythology, says Andreas. For better and for worse, America's borders have always been highly porous.
Far from being a new and unprecedented danger to America, the illicit underside of globalization is actually an old American tradition. As Andreas shows, it goes back not just decades but centuries. And its impact has been decidedly double-edged, not only subverting U.S. laws but also helping to fuel America's evolution from a remote British colony to the world's pre-eminent superpower.
472 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
27 people are currently reading
774 people want to read
About the author
Peter Andreas
44 books32 followersPeter Andreas is a professor in the Department of Political Science and the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. He was previously an Academy Scholar at Harvard University, a Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and an SSRC-MacArthur Foundation Fellow on International Peace and Security. Andreas has written numerous books, published widely in scholarly journals and policy magazines, presented Congressional testimony, written op-eds for major newspapers, and provided frequent media commentary.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
May 11, 2013
"No policy debate," explains Peter Andreas, in reference to DC debates over the control of illicit markets, "has been more devoid of historical memory, learning, and reflection." (329) His book is a grand synthetic effort to correct that amnesia. It provides a broad survey of the way in which contestation over deviant marketplaces has served as a sort of Zelig of the history of American policy economy, always around on key occasions, sometimes playing a decisive role in the outcome of events. And this is very much true, whether ranging from the way that Brit efforts to suppress illicit non-mercantalist trade precipitated the American revolution, or how illicit liquor literally lubricated the suppression of Indians in the West, or how the debate over "blood cotton" led to the Civil War, or how the effort to control drugs leading to the creation of the national police state, and so on down to the present drug war as a way to control the post-industrial urban underclass (a fact he actually shies away from stating quite baldly enough).
As much as I wanted to give this book five stars, I couldn't for three inter-related reasons:
1. It is under-theorized: why if illicit commerce creates so many perverse effects does the American state continue to make some market illicit. There are possible Marxist explanations (a cover for bourgeois efforts to control underclasses), Foucaultian explanations (it's about biopolitical control and the extension of discipline and control). That the American state emerges the stronger for all its successive failures to control illicit commerce, and the seeming inability of the state to reflect on this fact in an explicit and thoughtful way, seems to be underlying historical facts begging for an explanation. Andreas does a nice job of laying out these two facts, but has no account for WHY these peculiar, paradoxical, and perverse effects have continued to manifest themselves in one way or another for centuries. Why, in short, is consistent failure to achieve policy ends such an effective state-building tool, at least in America? This is a key question that he never manages to get his hands around.
2. The national frame of reference. Why does he frame this in terms of a specifically AMERICAN history? Hasn't the roll of the illicit played the same role in the constitution of other state-building exercises? If not, why not. In some places, the illicit ends up colonizing the state, hollowing it out, perhaps even collapsing it - some comparative assessment of why this is not the case (indeed nearly the opposite is the case) in the US might have helped with the theorization issues listed above. The national focus is doubly odd, since he explicitly chose to include or exclude episodes of the role of the illicit in American history based on whether they involved trafficking with "foreign" countries (thus, for example, the Whiskey Rebellion is not discussed, since in Andreas's estimation this was a purely "domestic" issue - though that distinction was of course one of the central questions that was at stake in the rebellion). But this framing leads to a failure to consider the purely domestic purposes of efforts to control the illicit -- thus feeding into (and being a manifestation of) the failure to adequately theorize the role of the illicit in nationl and international institution construction.
[Here's a couple of hints, however: First, societies are defined by their prohibitions, as Durkheim taught us over a century ago, including the prohibitions they seek to impose on others - so the illicit is tied up in a fundamental way with issues of identity. Second, the illicit provides a higher moral discourse with which to justify the effort of certain segments of the population to control other sectors of the population, for reasons that may be only dimly related to the supposed moral taint of the illicit activity.]
3. Lack of primary sources. Every chapter is in the main a synthesis of the two or three key monographs on the topic area. The book is immensely readable and would make a good alt.history textbook to assign in survey courses alongside the more conventional surveys, but it's not a work of original scholarship in itself. Andreas appears not to have hit a single archive himself, and has not advanced a single historical argument about a period or episode which was not already available in the historiographic literature. The contribution is mainly in having assembled the material all in a single well-written volume. This is no mean feat, but also not one that could ever produce something truly great.
As much as I wanted to give this book five stars, I couldn't for three inter-related reasons:
1. It is under-theorized: why if illicit commerce creates so many perverse effects does the American state continue to make some market illicit. There are possible Marxist explanations (a cover for bourgeois efforts to control underclasses), Foucaultian explanations (it's about biopolitical control and the extension of discipline and control). That the American state emerges the stronger for all its successive failures to control illicit commerce, and the seeming inability of the state to reflect on this fact in an explicit and thoughtful way, seems to be underlying historical facts begging for an explanation. Andreas does a nice job of laying out these two facts, but has no account for WHY these peculiar, paradoxical, and perverse effects have continued to manifest themselves in one way or another for centuries. Why, in short, is consistent failure to achieve policy ends such an effective state-building tool, at least in America? This is a key question that he never manages to get his hands around.
2. The national frame of reference. Why does he frame this in terms of a specifically AMERICAN history? Hasn't the roll of the illicit played the same role in the constitution of other state-building exercises? If not, why not. In some places, the illicit ends up colonizing the state, hollowing it out, perhaps even collapsing it - some comparative assessment of why this is not the case (indeed nearly the opposite is the case) in the US might have helped with the theorization issues listed above. The national focus is doubly odd, since he explicitly chose to include or exclude episodes of the role of the illicit in American history based on whether they involved trafficking with "foreign" countries (thus, for example, the Whiskey Rebellion is not discussed, since in Andreas's estimation this was a purely "domestic" issue - though that distinction was of course one of the central questions that was at stake in the rebellion). But this framing leads to a failure to consider the purely domestic purposes of efforts to control the illicit -- thus feeding into (and being a manifestation of) the failure to adequately theorize the role of the illicit in nationl and international institution construction.
[Here's a couple of hints, however: First, societies are defined by their prohibitions, as Durkheim taught us over a century ago, including the prohibitions they seek to impose on others - so the illicit is tied up in a fundamental way with issues of identity. Second, the illicit provides a higher moral discourse with which to justify the effort of certain segments of the population to control other sectors of the population, for reasons that may be only dimly related to the supposed moral taint of the illicit activity.]
3. Lack of primary sources. Every chapter is in the main a synthesis of the two or three key monographs on the topic area. The book is immensely readable and would make a good alt.history textbook to assign in survey courses alongside the more conventional surveys, but it's not a work of original scholarship in itself. Andreas appears not to have hit a single archive himself, and has not advanced a single historical argument about a period or episode which was not already available in the historiographic literature. The contribution is mainly in having assembled the material all in a single well-written volume. This is no mean feat, but also not one that could ever produce something truly great.
February 17, 2016
Ohh, we are such a virtuous nation...what bullshit. we tend to view America through a narrow prism, regarding our early American patriots are saints spontaneously rising against British tyranny. the truth is there are many shades of grey, and lots of smuggling involved. John Hancock, 1st man to sign the Declaration? Rum smuggler. Oh, the heroes of the Alamo and Texas independence? Squatters and slavers. Virtue is all well and good, but as far as imposing the weight of the law on Porn and Alcohol--well, congratulations, y'all made both into major industries. That's the sound of one hand clapping, folks.
March 9, 2019
I like books that follow one subject and weave it throughout history. This book makes the case that we are a nation of smugglers--that the revolution itself was about the right to smuggle (kind of). The book starts really strong and the early history is fascinating. Later on, it seems that he loses the thread as he gets mired in the drug wars and then immigration. What's really interesting is that smuggling is just about the trade we legalize and the trade we don't. There is always going to be a market for outlawed goods and people will risk their lives to make profits. Drawing lines and borders is a matter of power.
May 15, 2023
"The reality is that these illicit actors have long been integral to the global economy and indeed helped to create it." (331-332)
Peter Andreas has crafted a history of United States smuggling from the days of Benjamin Franklin up to the Obama Administration, from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror. Andreas provides ample evidence to prove (if overstating) the importance and necessity of smuggling goods, including human trafficking in slaves, to United States history. Particularly interesting points include the establishment of American manufacturing as a venture in industrial espionage and patent pirating, the use of alcohol smuggling as a method of settler-colonialism in disabling indigenous resistance and use as a diplomatic measure to get them to move West, the moral panic over the import of pornography creating an underground domestic production, and the notion of "transnational organized crime" being nothing more than a new name for old-fashioned smuggling.
The defects of Andreas' work comes in his conclusion as well as what he omits. Throughout the book he alludes to the hegemonic nature of American imperialism, and this imperialism being used as a way for the US to export (i.e. force) its policing and repressive practices onto other nations, but never states this explicitly. Andreas unfortunately advocates for a liberal bandage on the issue rather than facing the problem as endemic to the capitalist structure and system: he prescribes "intelligence gathering" (and is vague on what this means) as well as "international cooperation" over the current system. The former solution is frankly terrifying, given the track record of the US intelligence community as a tool of imperialism, and the latter ignores the existence of imperialism and differences in power in the world-capitalist system.
Peter Andreas has crafted a history of United States smuggling from the days of Benjamin Franklin up to the Obama Administration, from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror. Andreas provides ample evidence to prove (if overstating) the importance and necessity of smuggling goods, including human trafficking in slaves, to United States history. Particularly interesting points include the establishment of American manufacturing as a venture in industrial espionage and patent pirating, the use of alcohol smuggling as a method of settler-colonialism in disabling indigenous resistance and use as a diplomatic measure to get them to move West, the moral panic over the import of pornography creating an underground domestic production, and the notion of "transnational organized crime" being nothing more than a new name for old-fashioned smuggling.
The defects of Andreas' work comes in his conclusion as well as what he omits. Throughout the book he alludes to the hegemonic nature of American imperialism, and this imperialism being used as a way for the US to export (i.e. force) its policing and repressive practices onto other nations, but never states this explicitly. Andreas unfortunately advocates for a liberal bandage on the issue rather than facing the problem as endemic to the capitalist structure and system: he prescribes "intelligence gathering" (and is vague on what this means) as well as "international cooperation" over the current system. The former solution is frankly terrifying, given the track record of the US intelligence community as a tool of imperialism, and the latter ignores the existence of imperialism and differences in power in the world-capitalist system.
January 18, 2013
Smuggler Nation joins a handful of books that have fundamentally changed my understanding of American history. Andreas’ thesis is simple: smuggling always has and continues to play a central role in America. To that end, he has written a history of smuggling in America that stretches from American colonists smuggling goods across battle lines to the French during the French and Indian War to modern day smuggling of drugs and people across the Mexican border.
I knew that smuggling has played an important part in American history, but there is so much that I didn’t know, and I never appreciated just how thoroughly intertwined in our history it has been. Sure, smuggling is central to the Civil War (blockade running), Prohibition (rum running undermined enforcement efforts), and modern politics (drugs and immigration). But it’s ubiquitous. Americans sold to the French during the French and Indian War. American privateering and smuggling made success in the American Revolution possible, but Americans also sold to the British. Americans sold to the British again during the War of 1812. Blockade running prolonged the Confederacy, but Americans on the Union side of the Mason-Dixon line sold across the lines. Seemingly everyone crossing the Atlantic during the Gilded Age smuggled to avoid protectionist tariffs. Rum running doomed Prohibition.
Smuggler Nation demonstrates well how history repeats itself. The Bahamas were a smuggling conduit early in our history. They surfaced again as a smuggling conduit in the early days of the drugs wars. Success in stopping the Colombian connection through the Bahamas and South Florida led smuggling to shift to Mexico. Our porous border with Mexico has been permeated by more than immigrants. The Union’s blockade efforts were stymied by trading through a neutral Matamoras port conveniently located across the river from the Confederacy (unfortunately for the Confederates Matamoras was still too remote to make a difference). Illicit trade across the Mexican border continued, with an explosion of drug trade in relation to efforts to stop the South Florida drug trade.
Andreas shows just how ineffective anti-smuggling efforts have been. It’s always been too easy for smugglers to shift ingress and egress. When the government cracked down on domestic production of alcohol during Prohibition, Americans got their alcohol from Mexico and Canada and ships just offshore. And when the government cracks down even further? We get a different class of smuggler. The morally flexible merchants are replaced by true gangsters. And the effect of that? An expansion of policing, that in itself an expansion of government power. Smuggler Nation drives home the role our efforts to rein in smuggling have played in the vast growth of government.
Andreas understands that immigration is just another form of smuggling, smuggling people instead of goods. The first immigrant backlash came against the Chinese. Our first efforts to stop Chinese immigration shifted it through Canada, then through Mexico. Efforts to stop European immigration shifted it through Mexico as well. (Presaging Cheech’s efforts in Born in East L.A., one of the easiest ways to cross in those days was to pass as Mexican. Mexicans at that time were viewed migratory labor force not threatening to stay permanently.)
This is an academic work, and Andreas doesn’t offer any real prescriptions (although, given his weird non-sequitur about global finance at the end, perhaps that’s for the best). He has, however, given the reader plenty to think about and that of the utmost importance.
Disclosure: I received an advance e-copy of Smuggler Nation through NetGalley.
I knew that smuggling has played an important part in American history, but there is so much that I didn’t know, and I never appreciated just how thoroughly intertwined in our history it has been. Sure, smuggling is central to the Civil War (blockade running), Prohibition (rum running undermined enforcement efforts), and modern politics (drugs and immigration). But it’s ubiquitous. Americans sold to the French during the French and Indian War. American privateering and smuggling made success in the American Revolution possible, but Americans also sold to the British. Americans sold to the British again during the War of 1812. Blockade running prolonged the Confederacy, but Americans on the Union side of the Mason-Dixon line sold across the lines. Seemingly everyone crossing the Atlantic during the Gilded Age smuggled to avoid protectionist tariffs. Rum running doomed Prohibition.
Smuggler Nation demonstrates well how history repeats itself. The Bahamas were a smuggling conduit early in our history. They surfaced again as a smuggling conduit in the early days of the drugs wars. Success in stopping the Colombian connection through the Bahamas and South Florida led smuggling to shift to Mexico. Our porous border with Mexico has been permeated by more than immigrants. The Union’s blockade efforts were stymied by trading through a neutral Matamoras port conveniently located across the river from the Confederacy (unfortunately for the Confederates Matamoras was still too remote to make a difference). Illicit trade across the Mexican border continued, with an explosion of drug trade in relation to efforts to stop the South Florida drug trade.
Andreas shows just how ineffective anti-smuggling efforts have been. It’s always been too easy for smugglers to shift ingress and egress. When the government cracked down on domestic production of alcohol during Prohibition, Americans got their alcohol from Mexico and Canada and ships just offshore. And when the government cracks down even further? We get a different class of smuggler. The morally flexible merchants are replaced by true gangsters. And the effect of that? An expansion of policing, that in itself an expansion of government power. Smuggler Nation drives home the role our efforts to rein in smuggling have played in the vast growth of government.
Andreas understands that immigration is just another form of smuggling, smuggling people instead of goods. The first immigrant backlash came against the Chinese. Our first efforts to stop Chinese immigration shifted it through Canada, then through Mexico. Efforts to stop European immigration shifted it through Mexico as well. (Presaging Cheech’s efforts in Born in East L.A., one of the easiest ways to cross in those days was to pass as Mexican. Mexicans at that time were viewed migratory labor force not threatening to stay permanently.)
This is an academic work, and Andreas doesn’t offer any real prescriptions (although, given his weird non-sequitur about global finance at the end, perhaps that’s for the best). He has, however, given the reader plenty to think about and that of the utmost importance.
Disclosure: I received an advance e-copy of Smuggler Nation through NetGalley.
September 19, 2016
This is an academic approach to illicit trade in the United States and how it was an integral part of its development as a nation. The author, Peter Andreas, acknowledges the ambition of his goal: he mentions in the preface that the primary challenge of his particular historical research is that he is attempting to uncover details that have, by their very nature, been covered up, hidden, and otherwise obfuscated. Nevertheless, Mr. Andreas posits that ignoring the rich history of smuggling due to its difficulty to be uncovered is misguided, resembling “a drunkard looking for his keys under the lightpost because it is the only place he can see.” Happily, the author exhibits great skill in finding usable data: diaries, customs records, accounting logs, and artifacts themselves have all served him well in his research.
Mr. Petras focuses his topic by highlighting the most important embargo of every era of American history: sugar in colonial times and cotton during the Civil War are some of the early topics. Each chapter can be read on its own, as if it were an essay. The chapter on efforts to sidestep the usurous duties taxes of the Gilded Age makes for particularly interesting reading. The last chapters cover migrants, drugs, and, finally, pirated content and internet neutrality.
Smuggling creates fascinating stories, not all of them violent. Some of the best moments were where problem-solving efforts met quirky human ingenuity. For example, the Gilded Age smuggler who could barely walk due to the quantity of silver spoons sewn into the lining of his clothing; or perhaps the Mexican parrot smugglers who dosed their birds with tequila to keep them quiet. These sorts of anecdotes abound, though they are often interspersed throughout a story fraught with violence, corruption, and woe. Overall, it is amazing what one might uncover when one dares to shed light on a most shadowy part of history.
Mr. Petras focuses his topic by highlighting the most important embargo of every era of American history: sugar in colonial times and cotton during the Civil War are some of the early topics. Each chapter can be read on its own, as if it were an essay. The chapter on efforts to sidestep the usurous duties taxes of the Gilded Age makes for particularly interesting reading. The last chapters cover migrants, drugs, and, finally, pirated content and internet neutrality.
Smuggling creates fascinating stories, not all of them violent. Some of the best moments were where problem-solving efforts met quirky human ingenuity. For example, the Gilded Age smuggler who could barely walk due to the quantity of silver spoons sewn into the lining of his clothing; or perhaps the Mexican parrot smugglers who dosed their birds with tequila to keep them quiet. These sorts of anecdotes abound, though they are often interspersed throughout a story fraught with violence, corruption, and woe. Overall, it is amazing what one might uncover when one dares to shed light on a most shadowy part of history.
February 17, 2013
SMUGGLER NATION: How Illicit Trade Made America, Peter Andreas,Oxford University Press, February 14, 2013, 472 pages, Hardcover, $29.95, 978-0-19-974688-0.
Really? America was made through smuggling and other illicit trades? Peter Andreas presents a fascinating view of history in his book SMUGGLER NATION. His purpose is to tell how smuggling and the endless quest to police it have made and continued to remake America through our present day.
Perhaps a shocker to many Americans, this compelling narrative is backed up with extensive research and the writer’s skillful logical well planned chronology of events. From the early days of our nascent nation smuggling was inherent in its growth. Beginning with the infamous triangular trade routes to the recent history of drug smuggling, arms smuggling and human smuggling, the evidence is certainly convincing. The author puzzles together the history of America which unfolds with captivating high adventure drama. Andreas pens a historical narrative of violence, crime, war, greed, corruption and that is a storyboard for an action big screen movie. For example, he documents the stories of smuggling guns and supplies for the American Revolution, smuggling and busting through blockades during the American Civil War and the smuggling of industrial technology from Europe. Astor, Brown, Hancock names of some of the first successful and often multi-millionaire merchants were smugglers or relied on illicit trade to gain advantage.
The author notes the irony. “that a country made of smuggling has now become the world’s leading anti-smuggling crusader.”
SMUGGLER NATION is a remarkably candid history, naked in fact without cover-up, that will undoubtedly stimulate discussion and reflection. Peter Andreas excites his readers with an unexpected and atypical history.
Wisteria Leigh
February 14, 2013
Really? America was made through smuggling and other illicit trades? Peter Andreas presents a fascinating view of history in his book SMUGGLER NATION. His purpose is to tell how smuggling and the endless quest to police it have made and continued to remake America through our present day.
Perhaps a shocker to many Americans, this compelling narrative is backed up with extensive research and the writer’s skillful logical well planned chronology of events. From the early days of our nascent nation smuggling was inherent in its growth. Beginning with the infamous triangular trade routes to the recent history of drug smuggling, arms smuggling and human smuggling, the evidence is certainly convincing. The author puzzles together the history of America which unfolds with captivating high adventure drama. Andreas pens a historical narrative of violence, crime, war, greed, corruption and that is a storyboard for an action big screen movie. For example, he documents the stories of smuggling guns and supplies for the American Revolution, smuggling and busting through blockades during the American Civil War and the smuggling of industrial technology from Europe. Astor, Brown, Hancock names of some of the first successful and often multi-millionaire merchants were smugglers or relied on illicit trade to gain advantage.
The author notes the irony. “that a country made of smuggling has now become the world’s leading anti-smuggling crusader.”
SMUGGLER NATION is a remarkably candid history, naked in fact without cover-up, that will undoubtedly stimulate discussion and reflection. Peter Andreas excites his readers with an unexpected and atypical history.
Wisteria Leigh
February 14, 2013
November 3, 2016
borrowed from library, 1 Feb. 2014
I heard the author on Marketplace interviewed by Kai Ryssdal. Really good.
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/lif...
I am next in line for this at the library. I got it, not easy reading, get it again.
What helped people break away from the mother country became troublesome to the govt when they were their own country. Smuggling is an ever-present border activity and it is part of the underground economy which never goes away either.
from the library computer:
Table of Contents
Preface ix
Introduction: A Nation of Smugglers 1 (12)
PART I THE COLONIAL ERA
1 The Golden Age of Illicit Trade
13 (16)
2 The Smuggling Road to Revolution
29 (16)
3 The Smuggling War of Independence
45 (18)
PART II THE EARLY REPUBLIC
4 Contraband and Embargo Busting in the New Nation
63 (19)
5 Traitorous Traders and Patriotic Pirates
82 (16)
6 The Illicit Industrial Revolution
98 (17)
PART III WESTWARD EXPANSION, SLAVERY, AND THE CIVIL WAR
7 Bootleggers and Fur Traders in Indian Country
115 (15)
8 Illicit Slavers and the Perpetuation of the Slave Trade
130 (24)
9 Blood Cotton and Blockade Runners
154 (23)
PART IV THE GILDED AGE AND THE PROGRESSIVE ERA
10 Tariff Evaders and Enforcers
177 (14)
11 Sex, Smugglers, and Purity Crusaders
191 (17)
12 Coming to America Through the Back Door
208 (19)
13 Rumrunners and Prohibitionists
227 (26)
PART V INTO THE MODERN AGE
14 America's Century-Long Drug War
253 (38)
15 Border Wars and the Underside of Economic Integration
291 (39)
16 America and Illicit Globalization in the Twenty-First Century
330 (23)
Epilogue 353 (4)
Notes 357 (70)
Index 427
I heard the author on Marketplace interviewed by Kai Ryssdal. Really good.
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/lif...
I am next in line for this at the library. I got it, not easy reading, get it again.
What helped people break away from the mother country became troublesome to the govt when they were their own country. Smuggling is an ever-present border activity and it is part of the underground economy which never goes away either.
from the library computer:
Table of Contents
Preface ix
Introduction: A Nation of Smugglers 1 (12)
PART I THE COLONIAL ERA
1 The Golden Age of Illicit Trade
13 (16)
2 The Smuggling Road to Revolution
29 (16)
3 The Smuggling War of Independence
45 (18)
PART II THE EARLY REPUBLIC
4 Contraband and Embargo Busting in the New Nation
63 (19)
5 Traitorous Traders and Patriotic Pirates
82 (16)
6 The Illicit Industrial Revolution
98 (17)
PART III WESTWARD EXPANSION, SLAVERY, AND THE CIVIL WAR
7 Bootleggers and Fur Traders in Indian Country
115 (15)
8 Illicit Slavers and the Perpetuation of the Slave Trade
130 (24)
9 Blood Cotton and Blockade Runners
154 (23)
PART IV THE GILDED AGE AND THE PROGRESSIVE ERA
10 Tariff Evaders and Enforcers
177 (14)
11 Sex, Smugglers, and Purity Crusaders
191 (17)
12 Coming to America Through the Back Door
208 (19)
13 Rumrunners and Prohibitionists
227 (26)
PART V INTO THE MODERN AGE
14 America's Century-Long Drug War
253 (38)
15 Border Wars and the Underside of Economic Integration
291 (39)
16 America and Illicit Globalization in the Twenty-First Century
330 (23)
Epilogue 353 (4)
Notes 357 (70)
Index 427
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 25, 2014
A truly eye opening book. The portrayal of American history from this perspective sheds such an illuminating light on such a big dark corner and explains many things. It's also full with fascinating facts, and incredibly entertaining. It's often very funny to see ironies of history, how some things which used to be legal are illegal now or the other way around, or how countries which now condemn smuggling of some products/technologies/people used to regard it as their great priority and of great patriotic value. I never knew for example how important smuggling was for America's succeeding in breaking away from the British empire (particularly interesting in today's world of many secession conflicts), or how even on a government level industrial espionage and illegal smuggling of hardware and knowledge was encouraged only to then turn around as they had more to lose from it than win, and the parallels to today's countries.
I also quite liked how the book reveals the similarities about the many different types of smuggling, weather they are the typical illegal products that come to mind today or less obvious stuff like sugar, books, products excessively taxed or forbidden for social reasons like alcohol, and last but certainly not least people smuggling themselves in and out of country. I also liked the author's balanced view on a lot of topics. For example though he often points out the advantages for civilizations of the free trade of smuggling he doesn't shy away either from the stories of less reputable smuggling be it slave trade or more clearly damaging substances or weapons. Overall I would call this a truly eye opening book which I'm quite convinced might open the eyes to some unpopular perspectives to even the most hardened minds who read it and shows the world from a different point of view, both present and historical, and the probable/possible futures.
I also quite liked how the book reveals the similarities about the many different types of smuggling, weather they are the typical illegal products that come to mind today or less obvious stuff like sugar, books, products excessively taxed or forbidden for social reasons like alcohol, and last but certainly not least people smuggling themselves in and out of country. I also liked the author's balanced view on a lot of topics. For example though he often points out the advantages for civilizations of the free trade of smuggling he doesn't shy away either from the stories of less reputable smuggling be it slave trade or more clearly damaging substances or weapons. Overall I would call this a truly eye opening book which I'm quite convinced might open the eyes to some unpopular perspectives to even the most hardened minds who read it and shows the world from a different point of view, both present and historical, and the probable/possible futures.
May 15, 2013
Really enjoyed with two caveats. Presents his thesis (spoiler alert: America is a smuggler nation) clearly and supports it with a survey of American history. Does a great job of highlighting perennial problems, and historically contextualizing present discussions about globalization and crime.
Rigorous balanced presentation in earlier chapters, especially on the suppression of the slave trade, a particular (read dissertation) interest of mine. This is a vast improvement over the treatment of this case in previous international crime control lit - where Policing the Globe writes this case off as an outlier, he takes it seriously in this work, recognizing it in its contingency and complexity (even though the British effort is tangential to the American experience.). Synthesis of secondary sources, but that is to be expected (and is likely the best route) for a survey of this much time and space.
Caveat one: The work declines precipitously when he moves into some of his harder ideological commitments - the chapters on narcotics and US transnational regimes - from a charitable, even handed tone to a much preachier tack. His points could have been made, and his thesis well supported, without devolving to a screed in these places.
Caveat two: The swipe at Naim in the conclusion was unprofessional. While the book does an excellent job of widening the aperture (and reducing globalization panic), he would have made his point better with grace and charity to opposing views. This unnecessary snark undermined his credibility in my eyes in trusting him to interpret cases where I was unfamiliar with his secondary sources.
Besides those caveats, and excellent work. And this from someone who didn't like Policing the Globe much.
Rigorous balanced presentation in earlier chapters, especially on the suppression of the slave trade, a particular (read dissertation) interest of mine. This is a vast improvement over the treatment of this case in previous international crime control lit - where Policing the Globe writes this case off as an outlier, he takes it seriously in this work, recognizing it in its contingency and complexity (even though the British effort is tangential to the American experience.). Synthesis of secondary sources, but that is to be expected (and is likely the best route) for a survey of this much time and space.
Caveat one: The work declines precipitously when he moves into some of his harder ideological commitments - the chapters on narcotics and US transnational regimes - from a charitable, even handed tone to a much preachier tack. His points could have been made, and his thesis well supported, without devolving to a screed in these places.
Caveat two: The swipe at Naim in the conclusion was unprofessional. While the book does an excellent job of widening the aperture (and reducing globalization panic), he would have made his point better with grace and charity to opposing views. This unnecessary snark undermined his credibility in my eyes in trusting him to interpret cases where I was unfamiliar with his secondary sources.
Besides those caveats, and excellent work. And this from someone who didn't like Policing the Globe much.
August 31, 2013
A wonderful book on how smuggling is ever present (probably in every country) and how tough enforcement leads to even greater smuggling. The British was practically lax about the American Colonies smuggling because of the enforcement costs and the fact that more money was made not enforcing the laws on the books. This allowed American colonists to be independent in many way from Britain. When Britain won the Seven Year's War, they had a world wide empire to rule and attempted to create a uniform system of laws governing their new and old colonies. It didn't work and the American colonies were able to overthrow their British rulers. Confronted with a need as a new country to enforce their own laws, the smugglers continued on their way hurting a war effort with Britain in 1812 and eventually helping by the British defeat in New Orleans. All types of products were brought in over the years, slaves, drugs, exotic animals, liquor, cotton, etc as different products were banned and smugglers took up the trade. War can't be fought without smuggling and it often drags the process out for good and ill. Lincoln allowed Northern smugglers to buy cotton from the South in order to keep the Northern mills and shipping trades happy and to prevent the cotton from being sold to Britain and France for arms for the South. The drug trade has increased as border patrols have increased and those patrol officers who were hired quickly, fell for the corruption and money of the trade. Immigrants are still smuggled in and as it gets more difficult at the Mexican border, the they are woven into the drug trade for transportation and labor. What a great book and I learned so much. Who knew a book about smuggling could be so entertaining!
December 29, 2012
I've always been a friend of reading about history from a different angle. In Smuggler Nation Peter Andreas presents US history as a "smuggling story" which is a vantage point that sounded highly promising to me.
Presenting the impact and significance smuggling had in terms of the building of the US as a nation - from the early colonial era, up until the modern day - this is a both extensive and comprehensive work on the topic. It's the fascinating questions of how and why smuggling became such an essential, sometimes even necessary, ingredient for the nation, that hooked me right away.
While this book offers a broad view of the complex relationship America had, and still has, with smuggling, the author also skillfully highlights the progression of illicit trade throughout the years culminating in the battle to subvert it today. It's funny how we look back with a nostalgic glance on those colorful smuggling tales of times long gone and only ever grasp the ramifications of what illicit trade means to a country and its people when being faced with it in the present. And it's the present which is awarded just as much attention as the past, reaching beyond drug and border wars straight into the realm of illicit globalization.
Highly recommended for all history enthusiasts who're not scared of a fair share of economy between the pages too.
In short: Fascinating account on how smuggling made a nation!
Presenting the impact and significance smuggling had in terms of the building of the US as a nation - from the early colonial era, up until the modern day - this is a both extensive and comprehensive work on the topic. It's the fascinating questions of how and why smuggling became such an essential, sometimes even necessary, ingredient for the nation, that hooked me right away.
While this book offers a broad view of the complex relationship America had, and still has, with smuggling, the author also skillfully highlights the progression of illicit trade throughout the years culminating in the battle to subvert it today. It's funny how we look back with a nostalgic glance on those colorful smuggling tales of times long gone and only ever grasp the ramifications of what illicit trade means to a country and its people when being faced with it in the present. And it's the present which is awarded just as much attention as the past, reaching beyond drug and border wars straight into the realm of illicit globalization.
Highly recommended for all history enthusiasts who're not scared of a fair share of economy between the pages too.
In short: Fascinating account on how smuggling made a nation!
April 25, 2015
This book examines at the constant undercurrent of an underground economy in America, and how in many ways, this nation was built on that very thing. In short, people don't like being told what they can and can't buy, and they don't like having to pay endless taxes for a government that they feel is largely out of their reach. I originally purchased "Smuggler Nation" as part of the research for my historical fiction novel, "The Smuggler's Gambit", which is set in 1765 right around the time the Sugar Act and Stamp Act first went into effect. It was during that period in American history when the seeds of Revolution were being planted and frustration with the Crown began to foment."Smuggler Nation" doesn't stop its expose at the colonial era, of course, so I ended up learning so much more from it than I ever expected. It follows the smugglers (and the money) all the way through to modern times. I've still only scratched the surface of reading this hefty volume, but am glad to have it as a useful addition to my reference shelf.
February 5, 2015
This is a very interesting way to approach the American psyche, through colonial to current day. A conversation with a friend who grew up in New Orleans exposed how little I know about the connection between slavery and smuggling. Jean Lafitte was the target subject, but ultimately I learned how New England economy was linked to slavery, distilling rum from Barbados sugar and molasses. Slaves were actually priced by the number of barrels they would bring at market.
I very much enjoyed these earlier chapters, and had a certain disgust for the final, more current chapters. Prohibition is also of interest to me, but not from the aspect presented here. What was fascinating is that Americans have, from the inception of the colonies, resisted taxation and trade restriction, often trading with the enemy in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and the Mexican American War. This is an excellent perspective on economic history.
I very much enjoyed these earlier chapters, and had a certain disgust for the final, more current chapters. Prohibition is also of interest to me, but not from the aspect presented here. What was fascinating is that Americans have, from the inception of the colonies, resisted taxation and trade restriction, often trading with the enemy in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and the Mexican American War. This is an excellent perspective on economic history.
May 24, 2015
Excellent book! But the author made so many points -- and they were all so intricate and at the same time so relevant to his major topic -- that I'll need to read this book at least two more times to keep them all straight! This book certainly makes you look at American history in a new light. And there's one sentence from the book that I'll remember to say the next time someone complains about China's stealing intellectual property from America and other nations: China should do what the American government says and not what it did! Turns out, in the 18th and 19th centuries, America was one of the biggest thieves of intellectual property around!
"Smuggler Nation" was Book No. 15 for 2015!
"Smuggler Nation" was Book No. 15 for 2015!
August 6, 2016
Peter Andreas delivers an exciting and engaging story of the creation of the United States through illicit trade, one that continues and that is deeply entwined with public policies from copyright infringement to immigration. For those who care about history, this will be a great read; for those who care about cultivating a myth of America, then this will be a disturbing read. Recommended for individuals, book clubs, and activists for both the commons and comprehensive immigration reform.
February 28, 2015
This book is not an easy read because it is so dense with information that needs to be digested. But now, having read this a while ago, I can say that the information that I've gained from reading it comes to mind frequently when reflecting on current events and issues. Therefore, I have revised my review and added a star. I highly recommend this book for all that want a more nuanced view on our history.
September 1, 2014
Enjoyable look at the important role illicit commerce has played in the history of the U.S., from rum as a way to avoid sugar tariffs before the revolution and separate natives from their land, to slave running, the theft of intellectual property from England in the Industrial revolution, prohibition and the war on drugs. Makes the current positions on trade and immigration in other countries kind of hard to defend.
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November 26, 2012I did not finish this book. I thought the subject matter sounded very interesting, but the execution was that of a very boring school textbook, that no one other than dyed in the wool academics will probably read. That and peoples obsessed with the ECONOMICS of smuggling! Seriously, I know it's a large part of the history, but it didn't need to be the main focus. Very disappointed.
March 17, 2014
This is a wonderful book. Indeed, the US was and continues to be a smuggler nation. It is history one doesn't learn about in school textbooks. It is extensively and meticulously documented, with about 1/3 of the book consisting of references to supporting material. I recommend this to anyone who wants to find out more about the real history of the US.
March 31, 2013
You just have to love a book describing how customs personel gets tarred and feathered. Andreas argues well that smuggling is an american tradition, ranging from bootlegging to industrial espionage. A well needed antidote to the current ahistorical hysteria around borders and illegal trade. Some repetition should have been edited out, but overall an interesting and good read.
January 3, 2014
Great perspective on an interesting subject matter, and solid writing makes it interesting and easy to read.
March 18, 2014
I like well researched books and this is a good one.
March 10, 2015
Better than salt. Quick easy understory regarding the trends and fails of modern history in terms of illegal and illicit trading. Awesome.
January 20, 2016
Interesting book, but a bit too "academic."
March 23, 2016
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Some chapters were obvious, but level of detail into topics like pornography smuggling in American History was enlightening.
December 10, 2017
Really interesting, if disturbing book. Gives you a new perspective on U.S. history.
September 27, 2019
There is a pattern that one finds in terms of copyright protection that companies which are copyright-poor tend to support short copyright times so that more information gets into the public record and can then be adapted by others. On the other hand, once those companies get to be copyright-rich through their adaptations of what is in the public domain, they change course and no longer want anything to be in the public domain but want more or less permanent copyrights for their own intellectual property. A similar dynamic can be found when it comes to the problems of smuggling, in that piracy and other illicit trade is tolerated or even endorsed by authorities of those areas that struggle when it comes to finding enough trade partners but once they are sufficiently advanced economically they desire to end the smuggling that had helped them to prosper illicitly. This book certainly shows the somewhat hypocritical nature of American policies towards smuggling that demonstrate the American people have always been unwilling to accept restrictions on what they wanted to consume, be it Caribbean rum, foreign erotica, alcohol during Prohibition, or drugs today. Whether or not that is a bad thing, it is a consistent pattern in American history.
This book of about 350 pages is divided into five parts and sixteen chapters and it covers a long span of smuggling and piracy within American history. After a preface and an introduction that defines the United States somewhat unkindly as a nation of smugglers, the author discusses the colonial era (I) of American history in three chapterse that looks at the golden age of illicit trade that took place then (1), the impact of smuggling on ratcheting up hostility between the colonies and Britain (2) and the pivotal role of smuggling to Patriot success in the American Revolution (3). After that the author discusses smuggling in the early American republic in three chapters (II), examining contraband and embargo busting in New England (4), smuggling and illegal trading with Canada during the War of 1812 (5), and the industrial sabotage that allowed America to pirate British industrial patents (6). The author then moves on to a discussion of smuggling and other illicit trade in the middle of the 19th century (III) with chapters on bootlegging and fur trading in Indian country (7), illicit slavers and the perpetuation of the slave trade (8), and smuggling and blood cotton and blockade running during the Civil War (9). The author then continues to show smuggling during the Guilded age that followed the Civil War (IV) with chapters on tariff evaders and enforcers (10), sex crusades and those who opposed morality through smuggling efforts (11), illegal immigration through Canada and Mexico (12), and rumrunners during Prohibition (13). Finally, the author enters the modern age (V) with a discussion of the long drug war (14), border wars and economic integration (15), and a look at America's relationship with illicit globalization in the 21st century (16). After that there is an epilogue, notes, and an index.
The author appears to be making several related points in this book, and the information is compelling even where the book tends not to be all that appealing from a stylistic perspective. For one, the author notes the long history of smuggling and demonstrates that a substantial portion of the American people has never tolerated restraint on their interests. Whatever sort of items were banned on "moral" grounds that were wanted by any part of the population tended to create a large black market for smuggling as well as hostility shown to law enforcement figures. This is not a new phenomenon. The author also talks about the essential ambivalence of the American political authorities over history that have tended to quietly support or turn a blind eye to those illicit trade activities that led to some sort of profit or benefit while appearing as moralizers when it came to their own pet causes. And this book also seeks to remind the reader of this book (likely an American) that we need to understand our own history and recognize that our embrace of anti-smuggling and anti-piracy efforts is more a sign of our own wealth and economic power as a nation than it is a reflection of our own behavior in the past.
This book of about 350 pages is divided into five parts and sixteen chapters and it covers a long span of smuggling and piracy within American history. After a preface and an introduction that defines the United States somewhat unkindly as a nation of smugglers, the author discusses the colonial era (I) of American history in three chapterse that looks at the golden age of illicit trade that took place then (1), the impact of smuggling on ratcheting up hostility between the colonies and Britain (2) and the pivotal role of smuggling to Patriot success in the American Revolution (3). After that the author discusses smuggling in the early American republic in three chapters (II), examining contraband and embargo busting in New England (4), smuggling and illegal trading with Canada during the War of 1812 (5), and the industrial sabotage that allowed America to pirate British industrial patents (6). The author then moves on to a discussion of smuggling and other illicit trade in the middle of the 19th century (III) with chapters on bootlegging and fur trading in Indian country (7), illicit slavers and the perpetuation of the slave trade (8), and smuggling and blood cotton and blockade running during the Civil War (9). The author then continues to show smuggling during the Guilded age that followed the Civil War (IV) with chapters on tariff evaders and enforcers (10), sex crusades and those who opposed morality through smuggling efforts (11), illegal immigration through Canada and Mexico (12), and rumrunners during Prohibition (13). Finally, the author enters the modern age (V) with a discussion of the long drug war (14), border wars and economic integration (15), and a look at America's relationship with illicit globalization in the 21st century (16). After that there is an epilogue, notes, and an index.
The author appears to be making several related points in this book, and the information is compelling even where the book tends not to be all that appealing from a stylistic perspective. For one, the author notes the long history of smuggling and demonstrates that a substantial portion of the American people has never tolerated restraint on their interests. Whatever sort of items were banned on "moral" grounds that were wanted by any part of the population tended to create a large black market for smuggling as well as hostility shown to law enforcement figures. This is not a new phenomenon. The author also talks about the essential ambivalence of the American political authorities over history that have tended to quietly support or turn a blind eye to those illicit trade activities that led to some sort of profit or benefit while appearing as moralizers when it came to their own pet causes. And this book also seeks to remind the reader of this book (likely an American) that we need to understand our own history and recognize that our embrace of anti-smuggling and anti-piracy efforts is more a sign of our own wealth and economic power as a nation than it is a reflection of our own behavior in the past.
June 11, 2020
As a libertarian with bootlegging forbears, I reflexively hold smugglers in high esteem, and was eager to read about the proud history of subversive commerce in the United States, even if the author’s intention wasn’t to celebrate them. Smuggler Nation is a comprehensive history of not only how people thumbed their noses at a state that presumed to tell them what they could and could not buy, or imposed punishing tribute on what they purchased from afar, but an illustrative account of how the United States government was formed and strengthened by smuggling — either by gaining powers to fight it, or by gaining resources through it. If war is the health of the state, so too is prohibition.
The story begins in the colonial past, when British subjects in North America were officially expected to conform to mercantilist policies — where goods were bought from, or via, England. I say officially because customs officials were so cheerfully corrupt that little effort was made to enforce these policies until after the Seven Years War, at which point Britain so alienated its subjects that they bid for independence. Smuggling supplied the rebels with arms and resources, allowing the rebellion to persist for so long that Parliament gave up. The fledgling American republic would impose its own customs laws — its only resource of revenue back in those halcyon days — but find them thwarted. Smuggling meant both evading the tribute demanded of imports, and the selling of proscribed goods — though throughout the book it’s also used to characterize the slave trade, illegal immigration, and wartime blockades. Customs enforcement would grow with the state, decade by decade, but smuggling flourished and continued to create the nation in its image — helping open the west and establishing the industrial revolution, for instance. The Civil War was prolonged, in Andreas’ estimation, by smuggling — for it allowed a nation with virtually no industrial resources to sustain several armies for four years. As the United States drifted further from its original vision, increasingly more things became verboten and the powers of the state to police people’s everyday lives grew to extreme proportions that now one in every hundred Americans is in jail, over half of whom are there thanks to the drug war.
Smuggler Nation is a lot of fun, what with its legions of colorful characters — rebel planters, pirates, rogue inventors. There are fascinating side stories, too, like the heavy role Mexico played in facilitating early Chinese immigration into the United States. But there are important lessons here, too. Despite the growing march of the state in the background, I was frequently amused and astonished by the means people found to import items on the sly. Reading this reinforced an observation from Narconomics: prohibition doesn’t squelch demand, it merely redirects it. When the United States stamped down hard on cocaine and marijuana imports via the Carribean, it merely redirected the traffic via Mexico — destabilizing it further and establishing powerful gangs on the southwest’s doorstep. Prohibition led to the revival of hard liquors like whisky over beer, and suppression of drugs like MDMA have led to far more dangerous synthetic substitutes. If a substance truly is noxious, cultural pressure is more effective at minimizing it — as has been done with tobacco. I daresay as the state’s powers continue to swell, more things will become forbidden. Smuggling in the United States has had a colorful past…and presumably a long future.
The story begins in the colonial past, when British subjects in North America were officially expected to conform to mercantilist policies — where goods were bought from, or via, England. I say officially because customs officials were so cheerfully corrupt that little effort was made to enforce these policies until after the Seven Years War, at which point Britain so alienated its subjects that they bid for independence. Smuggling supplied the rebels with arms and resources, allowing the rebellion to persist for so long that Parliament gave up. The fledgling American republic would impose its own customs laws — its only resource of revenue back in those halcyon days — but find them thwarted. Smuggling meant both evading the tribute demanded of imports, and the selling of proscribed goods — though throughout the book it’s also used to characterize the slave trade, illegal immigration, and wartime blockades. Customs enforcement would grow with the state, decade by decade, but smuggling flourished and continued to create the nation in its image — helping open the west and establishing the industrial revolution, for instance. The Civil War was prolonged, in Andreas’ estimation, by smuggling — for it allowed a nation with virtually no industrial resources to sustain several armies for four years. As the United States drifted further from its original vision, increasingly more things became verboten and the powers of the state to police people’s everyday lives grew to extreme proportions that now one in every hundred Americans is in jail, over half of whom are there thanks to the drug war.
Smuggler Nation is a lot of fun, what with its legions of colorful characters — rebel planters, pirates, rogue inventors. There are fascinating side stories, too, like the heavy role Mexico played in facilitating early Chinese immigration into the United States. But there are important lessons here, too. Despite the growing march of the state in the background, I was frequently amused and astonished by the means people found to import items on the sly. Reading this reinforced an observation from Narconomics: prohibition doesn’t squelch demand, it merely redirects it. When the United States stamped down hard on cocaine and marijuana imports via the Carribean, it merely redirected the traffic via Mexico — destabilizing it further and establishing powerful gangs on the southwest’s doorstep. Prohibition led to the revival of hard liquors like whisky over beer, and suppression of drugs like MDMA have led to far more dangerous synthetic substitutes. If a substance truly is noxious, cultural pressure is more effective at minimizing it — as has been done with tobacco. I daresay as the state’s powers continue to swell, more things will become forbidden. Smuggling in the United States has had a colorful past…and presumably a long future.
March 20, 2025
Listened to this as an audio book. Obviously the topic is hotly discussed today with zero regard for actual US history, the person you would want to tie down and force to read this book you can't, it is what it is. Fast-paced and interesting to listen to, with a lot of facts and quick and unobtrusive analysis.
One of the factoids of the book is that Jewish people were seen responsible for Confederate smuggling in the Civil War, regardless of all the other factors going into it like that people needed to smuggle or die. So one of the Union generals thought he could simply solve the problem by purging the area under his control of Jewish people. President Lincoln had to tell him to cut it out.
One of the factoids of the book is that Jewish people were seen responsible for Confederate smuggling in the Civil War, regardless of all the other factors going into it like that people needed to smuggle or die. So one of the Union generals thought he could simply solve the problem by purging the area under his control of Jewish people. President Lincoln had to tell him to cut it out.
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