The Rum Runners

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

This is a short but intense review of prohibition in Alberta, 1916-1924.
It is packed with names, dates, times, and details of specific events
and gives a sense of the fast pace, tension, and intrigue that resulted
when once-peaceful citizens turned law breakers for the sake of liquor
and profit.

Reproductions of photos and documents of the period add to the
atmosphere of a time characterized by speakeasies, secret stills, and
Mounties chasing Model Ts across borders. It was an era when most of the
male population suffered from illnesses that could be treated only by a
prescription for 40 ounces of “tonic.”

Anderson presents history through a human-interest filter, using the
tone of a news reporter giving a blow-by-blow account of an unfolding
drama. He succeeds in communicating a sense of excitement, making this
small slice of Canadian history more accessible to the casual reader.