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Spirits of Just Men: Mountaineers, Liquor Bosses, and Lawmen in the Moonshine Capital of the World
Spirits of Just Men tells the story of moonshine in 1930s America, as seen through the remarkable location of Franklin County, Virginia, a place that many still refer to as the "moonshine capital of the world." Charles D. Thompson Jr. chronicles the Great Moonshine Conspiracy Trial of 1935, which made national news and exposed the far-reaching and pervasive tendrils of Appalachia's local moonshine economy. Thompson, whose ancestors were involved in the area's moonshine trade and trial as well as local law enforcement, uses the event as a stepping-off point to explore Blue Ridge Mountain culture, economy, and political engagement in the 1930s. Drawing from extensive oral histories and local archival material, he illustrates how the moonshine trade was a rational and savvy choice for struggling farmers and community members during the Great Depression.
Local characters come alive through this richly colorful narrative, including the stories of Miss Ora Harrison, a key witness for the defense and an Episcopalian missionary to the region, and Elder Goode Hash, an itinerant Primitive Baptist preacher and juror in a related murder trial. Considering the complex interactions of religion, economics, local history, Appalachian culture, and immigration, Thompson's sensitive analysis examines the people and processes involved in turning a basic agricultural commodity into such a sought-after and essentially American spirit.
Local characters come alive through this richly colorful narrative, including the stories of Miss Ora Harrison, a key witness for the defense and an Episcopalian missionary to the region, and Elder Goode Hash, an itinerant Primitive Baptist preacher and juror in a related murder trial. Considering the complex interactions of religion, economics, local history, Appalachian culture, and immigration, Thompson's sensitive analysis examines the people and processes involved in turning a basic agricultural commodity into such a sought-after and essentially American spirit.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 7, 2011
Born Again Hillbilly
This is a family’s story centered around a 1930’s trial were the exploiting haves and once again use the have nots. This was the least effective (and affective) part of the book which is packed with fascinating history. History that spans from Scotland to Ireland to Pennsylvania and finally to the Blue Ridge region of Virginia. Wherever these people went to try and find a better life they were exploited. They gentry were in the business of making money by keeping them yoked to the land usually to the point that they could barely feed themselves and their families much less get ahead. Out of this poverty the one constant was their resourcefulness and will to live. The farm and its products might be entailed but one way to keep body and soul together was by handing down the tradition of whiskey making. Fine whiskey, though not easy to make, was easy to sell, transport and most importantly was one of the few ways they had to make money. Their crops kept them from starving but seldom provided cash. The cash they needed to survive. The cash that helped them keep the dream of a better life alive.
I’d always heard how lazy and ignorant ‘hillbillies’ were. They’re portrayed as feuding alcoholics. This book opened my eyes to some truths. The feuds started when the government intervened to tax whiskey. Since the individual producers couldn’t afford to pay the tax they were breaking the law. And then prohibition hit and the real trouble began. Though there were some slow parts in the narrative the history far outweighed that and kept my interest. Thompson does an excellent job of conveying individual faces and lives of the people who lived through and shaped Blue Ridge history.
This review is based on an egalley supplied by the publisher.
4/5
This is a family’s story centered around a 1930’s trial were the exploiting haves and once again use the have nots. This was the least effective (and affective) part of the book which is packed with fascinating history. History that spans from Scotland to Ireland to Pennsylvania and finally to the Blue Ridge region of Virginia. Wherever these people went to try and find a better life they were exploited. They gentry were in the business of making money by keeping them yoked to the land usually to the point that they could barely feed themselves and their families much less get ahead. Out of this poverty the one constant was their resourcefulness and will to live. The farm and its products might be entailed but one way to keep body and soul together was by handing down the tradition of whiskey making. Fine whiskey, though not easy to make, was easy to sell, transport and most importantly was one of the few ways they had to make money. Their crops kept them from starving but seldom provided cash. The cash they needed to survive. The cash that helped them keep the dream of a better life alive.
I’d always heard how lazy and ignorant ‘hillbillies’ were. They’re portrayed as feuding alcoholics. This book opened my eyes to some truths. The feuds started when the government intervened to tax whiskey. Since the individual producers couldn’t afford to pay the tax they were breaking the law. And then prohibition hit and the real trouble began. Though there were some slow parts in the narrative the history far outweighed that and kept my interest. Thompson does an excellent job of conveying individual faces and lives of the people who lived through and shaped Blue Ridge history.
This review is based on an egalley supplied by the publisher.
4/5
November 4, 2012
This is a scholarly book on the moonshine trade in Franklin County, Virginia, in the 1930s. I was interested because my mother's family came from Franklin County, described as the "moonshine capital of the world" and because I loved Matt Bondurant's novel, The Wettest County in the World, about the same.
The author, Charles D. Thompson, has family ties in Franklin County, which makes this well-researched book come alive when he's describing the culture of the Blue Ridge and how tough it was for families who had farmed in the county for generations to cope with hard times during the Great Depression. Thompson shows deep empathy for people who had little alternative to moonshining and were forced "to invent an economy from scratch" based on homemade liquor. The most interesting question he raises is: What if the government had encouraged this local economy (like the local foods movement today) instead of criminalizing it? After all, many long-time residents of Franklin County were descendants of settlers from Northern Ireland, who had learned and passed on the fine craft of distilling spirits. Instead, it was a war on the poor, not a war on poverty.
The author, Charles D. Thompson, has family ties in Franklin County, which makes this well-researched book come alive when he's describing the culture of the Blue Ridge and how tough it was for families who had farmed in the county for generations to cope with hard times during the Great Depression. Thompson shows deep empathy for people who had little alternative to moonshining and were forced "to invent an economy from scratch" based on homemade liquor. The most interesting question he raises is: What if the government had encouraged this local economy (like the local foods movement today) instead of criminalizing it? After all, many long-time residents of Franklin County were descendants of settlers from Northern Ireland, who had learned and passed on the fine craft of distilling spirits. Instead, it was a war on the poor, not a war on poverty.
March 18, 2020
Love this book about the history of Franklin County, Virginia (one county away from where I grew up). I learned and enjoyed so much reading regional history that in many ways describes much of Appalachia though in a distinct Franklin County way. This was also written by a Franklin County native, Dr Charlie Thompson, who weaves in his own family story into the broader story of Franklin County and the moonshine trade. Great read!
June 29, 2018
A scholarly look at the causes and results of moonshining in Franklin County, Virginia, set against the broader picture of national events, the Depression and changes in farming over the 19th and 20th centuries. Fascinating.
May 6, 2020
This is a fantastic book. This is book #178 I’ve read on the topic of American booze history... and it’s one of the best! I love the humanistic approach to the people behind moonshine. This book challenges the popular stereotype that usually accompanies moonshiners and Appalachia.
Read
April 18, 2024so when people make moonshine because they have no other way to make money it’s bad but when corporations start making it it’s cool?
genuinely though what an amazing book to read for my war and violence in appalachia class!
genuinely though what an amazing book to read for my war and violence in appalachia class!
November 26, 2021
This is an educational book on a subject that is often misrepresented and trivialized by those who unfairly portray all moonshiners as “poor mountaineers who illegally make the whiskey by night so they can lay around drunk on their moonshine by day” - my words, not the author. This typical stereotype is indirectly addressed by the author in an unbiased way showing all sides of the Prohibition issue and how these “just men” in the making of their spirits were exploited by the highest levels of government to the lowest levels of law enforcement, all in cahoots to make money from liquor through taxes, payoffs to look the other way, and illegal sales of their high-demand products. Allowed to go unchecked, the production, transport, and sales escalated to phenomenal levels resulting in uncontrolled greed, backstabbing, conspiracies, jury tampering, and murder.
Set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Franklin County, Virginia, the author explains how this area became known as the Moonshine Capital of the World and covers a wide landscape of subjects from the settling of the area by the Scots-Irish and their cultural, educational, religious, and economic history to the challenges they faced to survive in a place and time when jobs were scarce, and hardships were aplenty.
I am so grateful that in my research on Prohibition I came across this book at the Linebaugh branch of the Rutherford County Public Library in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and to my son who bought me a brand-new copy.
Set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Franklin County, Virginia, the author explains how this area became known as the Moonshine Capital of the World and covers a wide landscape of subjects from the settling of the area by the Scots-Irish and their cultural, educational, religious, and economic history to the challenges they faced to survive in a place and time when jobs were scarce, and hardships were aplenty.
I am so grateful that in my research on Prohibition I came across this book at the Linebaugh branch of the Rutherford County Public Library in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and to my son who bought me a brand-new copy.
March 1, 2013
This book was an interesting read to learn about the southern mountain heritage and a much harder time in the place where I was raised. Gained a good perception of how illicit corn whiskey production was truly a last resort for survival for these honest, hardworking farmers rather than an immoral social vice. Interesting perspective from which to analyze how government policies and lobbying had second and third order effects on a microeconomy in rural, SWVA.
August 27, 2016
I have a soft spot for this book and its topic. I grew up in the Moonshine Capital of the World. Thompson does a fine job of putting illegal liquor-making into historical/cultural context. The thing I liked best? The "truth" about the Franklin Co. conspiracy will probably never be known, so it'll be up to fiction, perhaps, to solve the old, human riddles posed by greed and privilege and betrayal. Recommended if you love Appalachian history or have roots in the Blue Ridge.
October 23, 2013
Life kept interrupting, so it took me a while to finish this. This was a fascinating read, well researched and engaging. It brought the culture, background, economics and the individual stories together to give a true picture of the realities of mountain life and the outside influences that came to bear in this corner of the world that made moonshine an integral part of this region's history.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews