IRA Hook's Legacy

Abraham Lincoln who in his earlier days sold apple brandy for 12 cents a half pint said of Whiskey, "Injury did not come from use of a bad thing but from the abuse of a good thing." Ira Hook's Legacy, a historical novel of the first twenty years of 20th century America, chronicles the good and the bad uses of liquor through the lives of the descendents of Ira Hook and his partner, John Fergerson, 17th century farmers whose fortune was attributed to the sale of "cyder spirits". The often violent world of the bootlegger is depicted with meticulous historical detail from the early days of Prohibition as everyday people try to cope with new laws which threaten their ability to earn a living but also give families new hope of escape from alcohol abuse. Through the 'dry' years, they must dodge the law in order to sell their AppleJack and AppleCorn and struggle to raise a family after a beloved patriarch dies. From the Spanish American War through World War I, from horse drawn Tally-hos to the first automobiles, from Carry Nation's stand for sobriety through the Woman Suffrage movement, from a simple toast to good health to a descent into madness and murder...Ira Hook's Legacy is at once an indictment and a celebration of America's struggle to come to grips with personal freedoms.