Chasing the White Dog

January 4, 2010
Journalist Watman chronicles America's longstanding love affair with distilled spirits, a love that he shares. As long as people have been making booze, the government has wanted to control it, and Watman colorfully illustrates a conflict that stretches from the Whiskey Rebellion through Prohibition. Watman travels from Colorado to Virginia to cover the current battles between moonshine producers and government agents, a journey that takes him from “nip houses” to NASCAR events. Watman also details his own complicated, and comical, attempts to manufacture hard liquor at home. He is a capable journalist and has an impressive grasp of the craft of distillation and the science behind it. His historical writing is lively as well, and he profiles fascinating, little-known characters and events like Johnny McDonald and the Whiskey Ring scandal during the Grant administration. Despite Watman's talents, however, his narrative meanders, in large part because Watman doesn't write as well about himself as he does about other people. Yet even though the parts don't add up to a satisfying whole, they remain entertaining enough to keep the pages turning.

December 15, 2009
New York Times contributor Watman (Race Day, 2005) offers a diverting account of moonshine, or white lightning, interspersed with descriptions of his frustrating but ultimately successful efforts to make liquor at home.

Moonshining—illegally distilling liquor—began during the Civil War, when the federal government imposed heavy liquor taxes. While dispelling the myth of the wild-looking, straw-chewing"moonshine man"—most distillers were small farmers who turned excess yields of corn and apples into alcohol—the author finds much color in the still-ongoing battle between moonshiners and"revenuers." He interviews moonshiners, goes on a drive-along with government agents and visits distilleries and courtrooms to follow hooch's growth from a sideline for farmers into today's well-organized, multimillion-dollar business with distilleries producing thousands of gallons weekly. Much of the illegal business is still centered in the South, writes the author, with its acknowledged hub in Franklin County, Va., where the historical society runs a"Moonshine Express" bus tour. Moonshine is now consumed for a low-priced high mainly by African-Americans in unlicensed bars (shot houses or nip joints) in run-down sections of Northern cities. The author recounts famous trials of moonshiners, including the St. Louis whiskey ring that defrauded the U.S. government of $1.5 million annually from 1873 to'75 and the Virginia distillers convicted in 1935 for conspiring with agents who tipped them off before raids. Watman also chronicles the 2000 crackdown by Operation Lightning Strike—a federal-state effort—on a major Rocky Mount, Va., ring that supplied tons of sugar and bottles to moonshiners. Along the way the author introduces such characters as celebrated moonshiner Popcorn Sutton, author of Me and My Likker; moonshiner-turned-NASCAR driver Junior Johnson; and a 50-year-old black man and former crackhead named Skillet, who reminisces about the good old days in nip joints:"People'd fight and shit, cut each other, hell."

Bright and readable, with plenty of how-to for hobbyists.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 29, 2010
NEA Literature Fellowship recipient Watman (Race Day: A Spot on the Rail with Max Watman) again mixes personal narrative with reporting to explore a particular aspect of American cultural history. Most fascinating is the current practice of moonshining, which is more widely spread than some may assume. Readers will laugh and rejoice at Watman's attempts to distill his own liquor, an activity he repeatedly notes is illegal. Though these exploits add humor and a good deal of useful information about home brewing and distilling, readers interested in a more thorough historical or academic treatment of this subject may find them distracting. Fans can find more information about moonshine and racing as well as recipes on Watman's blog, The Ocean of Intemperance.Verdict A fun read combining history, how-to, and memoir that should have special appeal in the Appalachian regions covered in the book.-Meagan P. Storey, Virginia Wesleyan Coll., Norfolk, VA

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2010
Although most of us associate moonshine with Prohibition and the cross-border gin runners of the 1920s, the first moonshiners actually were outlaws who protested the new tax on whiskey; this was in the 1790s, and it was such a serious rebellion that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton sent 13,000 troops into Pennsylvania to quash it. Moonshine is, in parts of the U.S., still a booming business and an important part of the economy of the South. Watman, a journalist and southerner, takes us on an exciting and often-eccentric ride through the history (and present) of the moonshine business, at the same time chronicling his own frequently disastrous efforts to produce home-grown alcohol. Written in a lively, you-are-there style, and featuring some truly out-of-left-field characters, the book is sure to entertain as it informs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)