Eleanor Charwat’s short book Prohibition in the Hudson Valley, Along the Bootleg Trail (self published, 2017) looks back at the prominent role the Hudson Valley played in bootlegging during the Prohibition Era.
Local producers, distributors and sellers of illegal liquor were overshadowed and sometimes terrorized by New York City gangsters like Dutch Schultz, Legs Diamond and Salvatore Maranzano who came to the Hudson Valley to make money and escape federal surveillance.
Intrigued by a mention of bootlegging in the Hudson Valley in one of her father’s scrapbooks (he had a 58-year law career in Poughkeepsie), Eleanor Charwat researched the subject and created a talk and this 28 page book. She’s presented the topic to over 20 historical societies, libraries and other community organizations.
Charwat is a Poughkeepsie native who has lived in the Hudson Valley most of her life. She was head of the School of Adult Education at Marist College, has been a newspaper reporter, a teacher of English as a Second Language, a Town of Poughkeepsie Councilman and an active community volunteer. She is a graduate of Cornell University and received her master’s in public administration from Marist College. She is the author of Small Town Lawyer: Highlights of Nathaniel Rubin’s Career and A Life Well-Lived, a Memoir.
For a copy of the book, contact Eleanor at echarwat@yahoo.com. The cost is $6.95 plus postage.
Books noticed on the New York Almanack have been provided by their publishers.
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