Prohibition (miniseries)

2011 American TV series or program

Prohibition

Genre| Documentary
Written by| Geoffrey C. Ward
Directed by| Ken Burns
Lynn Novick
Narrated by| Peter Coyote
Composer| Wynton Marsalis
Country of origin| United States
No. of episodes| 3
Production
Producers| Sarah Botstein
Lynn Novick
Ken Burns
Cinematography| Buddy Squires
with:
Allen Moore
Stephen McCarthy
Editors| Tricia Reidy
Erik Ewers
Ryan Gifford
Running time| 5 1/2 hours
Production companies| Florentine Films
WETA
Prohibition Film Project
National Endowment for the Humanities
Original release
Network| PBS
Release| October 2 (2011-10-02) –
October 4, 2011 (2011-10-04)

Prohibition is a 2011 American television documentary miniseries directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick with narration by Peter Coyote. The series originally aired on PBS between October 2, 2011 and October 4, 2011.[1] It was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities. It draws heavily from the 2010 book Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent.[2]

## Synopsis

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Prohibition describes how the consumption and effect of alcoholic beverages in the United States were connected to many different cultural forces including immigration, women's suffrage, and the income tax. Eventually the Temperance movement led to the passing of Prohibition, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Widespread defiance of the law, uneven and unpopular enforcement, and violent crime associated with the illegal trade in alcohol caused increasing dissatisfaction with the amendment, eventually leading to its repeal 13 years later.

## Episodes

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No.| Title [3]| Original release date

|
|

1| "A Nation of Drunkards"| October 2, 2011 (2011-10-02)

The episode describes how immigration, alcoholism, women's suffrage and the temperance movements led up to the passing of the 18th Amendment, Prohibition. Runtime: 96 minutes

2| "A Nation of Scofflaws"| October 3, 2011 (2011-10-03)

This episode addresses how the enforcement of Prohibition was inconsistent and caused unintended consequences, including making criminals of a large portion of the population. Runtime: 112 minutes

3| "A Nation of Hypocrites"| October 4, 2011 (2011-10-04)

This episode follows the gradual swing towards repeal of Prohibition as the Great Depression focuses attention on other priorities. Runtime: 106 minutes

## Cast

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### Voice actors

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* Adam Arkin
* Philip Bosco
* Patricia Clarkson (Carrie Nation)
* Kevin Conway
* Peter Coyote (narrator)
* Blythe Danner
* Paul Giamatti (George Remus)
* Tom Hanks (Newspaper, Roy Olmstead)
* Jeremy Irons
* Samuel L. Jackson
* John Lithgow (H. L. Mencken)
* Josh Lucas
* Amy Madigan
* Carolyn McCormick
* Oliver Platt (Al Capone)
* Campbell Scott (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
* Frances Sternhagen
* Joanne Tucker
* Sam Waterston (newspaper)

### Interviewed consultants

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* Zeke Alpern
* Jonathan Eig
* Noah Feldman
* Pete Hamill
* Edwin T. Hunt Jr
* Michael Lerner
* William Leuchtenburg
* Martin E. Marty
* Catherine Gilbert Murdock
* Daniel Okrent
* Ruth P. Smith
* John Paul Stevens
* Margot Loines Wilkie
* Joshua M. Zeitz

## Critical response

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* "You can hear history talking directly to the Americans of 2011 all through 'Prohibition,' an absorbing five-and-a-half-hour documentary by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick ... Especially now, the story of America's disastrous experiment with banning alcoholic beverages seems made for Santayana's phrase about learning from the past or being condemned to repeat it." – Neil Genzlinger, New York Times[4]
* "Burns has the similar gift of that rare history professor who can captivate even the most reluctant student by bringing the material to life." – Hank Stuever, Washington Post[5]
* "Prohibition provides a very fine analytic survey of the noble experiment." – Troy Patterson, Slate[6]
* "Another piece of wonder by Ken Burns." – Tim Goodman, Hollywood Reporter[7]

## References

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1. ^ List of episodes on IMDb
2. ^ "A long and sober look at Prohibition history", Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2011
3. ^ "Prohibition: Episode Guide". PBS.
4. ^ "Bellying Up to the Time When America Went Dry", Neil Genzlinger, New York Times, September 30, 2011
5. ^ "Ken Burns takes a sip of 'Prohibition'", Hank Stuever, Washington Post, September 29, 2011
6. ^ "Prohibition: A fascinating Ken Burns series about the noble experiment", Troy Patterson, Slate, September 30, 2011
7. ^ Goodman, Tim (August 10, 2011). "10 Post TCA Broadcast Buzz Shows". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 8, 2019.

## External links

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* PBS: Prohibition
* Florentine Films
* Prohibition at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Ken Burns

Documentaries|

| As director|

* Brooklyn Bridge (1981)
* The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God (1984)
* The Statue of Liberty (1985)
* Huey Long (1985)
* The Congress (1988)
* Thomas Hart Benton (1988)
* The Civil War (1990)
* Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio (1991)
* Baseball (1994)
* Thomas Jefferson (1997)
* Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery (1997)
* Frank Lloyd Wright (1998)
* Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony (1999)
* Jazz (2001)
* Mark Twain (2001)
* Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip (2003)
* Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (2004)
* The War (2007)
* The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009)
* The Tenth Inning (2010)
* Prohibition (2011)
* The Dust Bowl (2012)
* The Central Park Five (2012)
* Yosemite: A Gathering of Spirit (2013)
* The Address (2014)
* The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (2014)
* Jackie Robinson (2016)
* Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War (2016)
* The Vietnam War (2017)
* The Mayo Clinic: Faith – Hope – Science (2018)
* Country Music (2019)
* Hemingway (2021)
* Muhammad Ali (2021)
* Benjamin Franklin (2022)
* The U.S. and the Holocaust (2022)
* The American Buffalo (2023)
* Leonardo da Vinci (2024)

|

As writer|

* Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies (2015)

As producer|

* The West (1996)

Related|

* Sarah Burns (daughter)
* Lilly Burns (daughter)
* Ric Burns (brother)
* Dayton Duncan
* Lynn Novick
* Geoffrey C. Ward
* Ken Burns effect

* v
* t
* e

Alcohol prohibition

By country|

* Bangladesh
* Canada
* Finland
* Iceland
* India
* Iran
* Russia / Soviet Union
* United States

By topic|

* Eighteenth Amendment (U.S. Constitution)
* Twenty-first Amendment (U.S. Constitution)
* Australian prohibition referendums
* Western Australian, 1925
* New South Wales, 1928
* Western Australian, 1950
* American Mafia
* American Temperance Society
* Anti-Saloon League
* Association Against the Prohibition Amendment
* Bathtub gin
* Blaine Act
* Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
* Bureau of Prohibition
* Cullen–Harrison Act
* Dry county
* Dry state
* List of dry communities by U.S. state
* Islam
* Jazz Age
* Local option
* Medicinal Liquor Prescriptions Act of 1933
* Molly Pitcher Club
* Moonshine
* Neo-prohibitionism
* Nip joint
* Roaring Twenties
* Rum-running
* Rum Patrol
* Rum row
* Sly-grog shop
* Speakeasy
* Swedish prohibition referendum, 1922
* Teetotalism
* Temperance movement
* Temperance (Scotland) Act 1913
* United Kingdom Alliance
* Volstead Act
* Voluntary Committee of Lawyers
* Webb–Kenyon Act
* Wickersham Commission
* Willis–Campbell Act
* Woman's Christian Temperance Union

People|

* Martha Meir Allen
* Harry J. Anslinger
* Thomas Holliday Barker
* Lyman Beecher
* Al Capone
* Mickey Duffy
* Waxey Gordon
* Texas Guinan
* Frank Hamer
* William Harvey
* J. Edgar Hoover
* Clinton N. Howard
* Bumpy Johnson
* Enoch L. Johnson
* Norman Kerr
* Meyer Lansky
* Frederic Richard Lees
* Lucky Luciano
* Sam Maceo
* Owney Madden
* Joseph Malins
* William McCoy
* J. Howard Moore
* Bugs Moran
* Carrie Nation
* Eliot Ness
* Roy Olmstead
* The LaMontages brothers
* Lanzetta Brothers
* The Purple Gang
* George Remus
* Arnold Rothstein
* Howard Hyde Russell
* Dutch Schultz
* Thomas Bywater Smithies
* Eliza Thompson
* William Harvey Thompson
* Andrew Volstead
* Wayne Wheeler
* Frances Willard
* Izzy Einstein and Moe Smith

Political parties|

* National Prohibition Party (UK)
* Prohibition Party (USA)
* Scottish Prohibition Party

Related|

* Prohibition (2011 documentary miniseries)

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