Liberated Spirits: Two Women Who Battled Over Prohibition

by Hugh Ambrose, John Schuttler

A provocative new take on the women behind a perennially fascinating subject--Prohibition--by bestselling author and historian Hugh Ambrose.

The passage of the 18th Amendment (banning the sale of alcohol) and the 19th (women's suffrage) in the same year is no coincidence. These two Constitutional Amendments enabled women to redefine themselves and their place in society in a way historians have neglected to explore. Liberated Spirits describes how the fight both to pass and later to repeal Prohibition was driven by women, as exemplified by two remarkable women in particular.

With fierce drive and acumen, Mabel Willebrandt transcended the tremendous hurdles facing women lawyers and was appointed Assistant Attorney General. Though never a Prohibition campaigner, once in office she zealously pursued enforcement despite a corrupt and ineffectual agency.

Wealthy Pauline Sabin had no formal education in law or government but she too fought entrenched discrimination to rise in the ranks of the Republican Party. While Prohibition meant little to her personally--aristocrats never lost access to booze--she seized the fight to repeal it as a platform to bring newly enfranchised women into the political process and compete on an equal footing with men.

Along with a colorful cast of supporting characters, from rumrunners and Prohibition agents on the take to senators and feuding society matrons, Liberated Spirits brings the Roaring Twenties to life in a brand new way.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Feminism, Crime, Food, Research

368 pages, Hardcover

First published October 16, 2018

About the author

Hugh Alexander Ambrose was an American historian and the author of a best-selling popular history of the Pacific Theater in World War II. Ambrose rose to prominence as a researcher for and collaborator with his father, historian Stephen E. Ambrose.

Hugh Alexander Ambrose was born on Aug. 12, 1966, in Baltimore, one of three children that his mother, the former Moira Buckley, brought to her marriage to Stephen Ambrose in 1968. Mr. Ambrose adopted all three children, and the family settled in New Orleans.

After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Montana, Hugh Ambrose went to work for his father, researching “Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West” (1996) and other books.

For the World War II histories, he scoured archives, visited battlegrounds and interviewed a spate of veterans.

In an interview with The Wisconsin State Journal in 2012, Hugh Ambrose recalled the day his father asked him to become his research partner, and the irresistible inducement the older man held out to him.

“There was a pause and he said the magic words ... I’ll pay you,” Mr. Ambrose said. “And of course I said yes.”

Hugh Amborse passed away from Cancer.

Reviews

[Mike Marino · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, I’ve read it twice. Definitely a good book if you’re a fan of prohibition.

[Michelle Wyche · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had received an arc copy of liberated spirits . I enjoyed the book, partly because I love history and partly because it was informative. These two women fought for what they wanted, which at the time was a big deal for women to be able to voice their opinions. There were however periods missing and some words missing.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a difficult time reading this book. The premise of the book involves two women on the opposite sides of prohibition. It was quite obvious that extensive research had been done to write this book. But I got confused by all the historical facts and all the different people involved. I thought the book needed to tell more of the story, not just burden the reader with historical facts.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free ARC of this book from the publisher.

This book obviously has had a ton of research done to write about Prohibition in the United States. Unfortunately, it's just a bit slow in terms of a story because it's filled with so much factual information about who did this, when and where. My grandmother was involved with the WCTU for most of her life so it appealed to me to read, but it wasn't enough to keep me fascinated.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book read like a college textbook. It was very informative and I learned more about the time period. I had a hard time getting into the flow of the story.

[Marjorie O'Rourke · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting take on the Prohibition debate. It was intriguing to read about how the debate and Prohibition started with women and ended with women, a side of history that is rarely told.

[Diana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dry is definitely the term for this book. Pro-Prohibition people were called "drys" and anti-Prohibition people were called"wets." But this book is dry in the worst sense of the word: It's been a slog to get through. It should be interesting. 2 women in the Prohibition era who were instrumental in its application in the U.S. 2 women with power and influence in the Republican party. 1 woman with societal power as a club woman and wealthy politico, and 1 woman with legal power as the Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. But this book was less concerned with ferreting out who these women were and what drove them than in a recitation of political committee action. Informative, yes. As interesting and personal as it should have been, no.

[Marty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty dry (!) until roughly 100 pages in. Even more troubling, maybe, that in a book centered on the hard-fought work of two women, Mabel Walker Willebrandt and Pauline Sabin, representing opposite sides of the 18th Ammendment, the most interesting focus presented here is of rumrunner Roy Olmstead and the cowboy-like William Whitney, the assistant director of the Seattle Prohibition Bureau. The majority of the 280+ pages read as a tediously detailed account of both women's advancement through political sub-committee after sub-committee. Hugh Ambrose's untimely death merely a few months after "completing" this book probably helps explain its abrupt non-conclusion. I would have rather read dedicated biographies of each woman separately, rather than shoehorned together here.

[Camille · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was attracted to this title since I perform a historical story which includes these two women. I did receive a lot more information than I had previously found about their roles.
The amount of detail on the legal battles in Washington state was a little overwhelming. It did point out how difficult and confusing it was to prosecute offenders and bring down big syndicates. By including so much information on those few cases there was apparently not enough pages for other big cases that Willebrandt was involved in.
Both women left behind many resources in either personal writings or public media and the author did make use of these in his research.

[Caitlin Hanson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I thought it would be about. I thought it would be a non-fiction story regarding two women who fought against prohibition and were a part of pushing through the 21st amendment, but it ended up being a historical book covering prohibition to it’s repeal, going into great detail everything from presidential elections to prominent bootleggers, and bringing all these details back to two women.

Would recommend for historical buffs, not necessarily for individuals looking for books written about women leaders.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took me forever, but that wasn't entirely its fault. I had a baby and Sarah J Maas released a few books while I had it.
I wish Hugh Ambrose had been allowed more time to give us more information on Pauline and Mabel (but alas, cancer is a cruel and wretched disease). Is that all there is? I hope not. Am I writing a series screenplay in my head with Imelda Staunton as Pauline Sabin and Idina Menzel as Mabel Walker Willebrandt, with Maggie Lawson as Elsie Olmsted? Maybe.

[Maggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This has some interesting information about the time period, but is barely about two women who "battled"- it's about two women who had opposite opinions on prohibition, and one only adopted that opinion near the end of her political life, when the ot her had already left politics! Also very dry.

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, while very dense.