DOUGHBOYS, RUMRUNNERS AND BOOTLEGGERS

It was spring 1918, and naïve Montana country boys joined the army as the Great War in Europe raged on. Initially seen as an opportunity for a grand adventure, most were somehow transformed by the rigors of war. Upon returning home they discovered a new amendment to the Constitution that forbade the use of alcohol. It was the first time in American history that rights were taken away rather than secured by the Constitution. Few proponents of Prohibition stopped to consider the myriad employment opportunities the new law would engender for both law enforcement and scofflaws. A new generation of young people ushered in the Roaring Twenties. There would be no going back.

Beginning in 1914 and continuing over a span of four years, opposing feudal powers of Europe became mired in a war wherein no winners emerged. America entered the war in spring 1918, pouring fresh troops and material into what had become a stalemate. Muddy, rat-infested trenches crisscrossed the landscape. Combatants lobbed artillery, mortars, and mustard gas at one another. Snipers aimed rifles and soldiers sat behind machine guns waiting for man or beast to venture into No-man's Land. What were once peaceful villages and farms became an arena of waste and destruction. Despite millions of casualties enthusiastic young Americans threw caution to the wind and enlisted in the cause. Many others, willing and unwilling alike, were drafted into service. Soldiers from Northton, Montana, and throughout the northwest, saw things they'd never seen on the train ride across the vast prairie and through crowded cities. Though the thrill of crossing the ocean was dimmed by sea sickness and fear of German U-boats, optimism reined as they looked forward to leaving the safety of their cantonments in war-weary France and play their part in the Grand Offensive, an epic battle designed to smash the much-vaunted Hindenburg Line. Many stayed behind in French cemeteries but most returned, though some would carry scars for the balance of their lives. And the war did not end with an armistice. More soldiers died from the effects of the so-called Spanish flu than were killed in battle. The post-war economy slumped but the advent of Prohibition took up some of the slack as the words rumrunner and bootlegger became part of the lexicon. And there were new opportunities in law enforcement as dry agents prowled roads, searched for clandestine stills, and raided illicit bars, speakeasies, or blind pigs. It was the Roaring Twenties. Women had joined the labor force and were little inclined to leave it, especially after winning the right to vote with another new amendment to the Constitution. Social mores were cast by the wayside as young women experimented with smoking, drinking, and sex. Provocative styles of dressing, bobbed hair, and new slang crept into a heretofore staid, well-ordered society. Nate Dooley is a wizened veteran of the Civil War and patriarch of the McDonald family who shepherds his daughter, Elly Sue, through the loss of her husband, the birth of a child, the uncertainty of her oldest son going off to war, and the deadly influenza pandemic of 1918. He also knew how to distill good whiskey and stepped to the fore as the family cast about for a way to prosper in a sluggish economy. Collin McDonald, Elly Sue's son, returns from the war to heal from his wound and fall in love with Jessamine. While Jessie also loves Collin, she is reluctant to commit to a life of drudgery---bearing children, washing laundry, growing, canning, and preparing food. She falls into a dalliance with a rumrunner, also a veteran of the war, and complicates Collins desire to marry her. Some prospered regardless of which way the winds blew. Charles Percival Mannington, banker and lumber mill magnate, was one such man. He saw to it that his son, J. J., received a commission so he could join in on the victorious conclusion to the war. However, fame and glory prove to be elusive to his privileged son, and J. J. becomes a victim of his father's avarice and greed. Lust for money, alcohol, and sex, keeps the narrative moving and leads "Doughboys, Rumrunners, and Bootleggers" to a dramatic, action-packed conclusion.

In his nearly fifty years of living in northwest Montana, Gary Montgomery has performed in the capacity of logger, lumber mill worker, Christmas tree cutter, U. S. Forest Service fire crew, substitute teacher, and ranch manager. He also owned and operated a printing and photo processing business which led to a twenty-nine-year commitment of publishing The Trail, an historical journal which featured interviews with oldtimers. It was the interviews with 130 people who knew about WW l and prohibition that led him to become interested in writing this book of historical fiction. He holds a degree in wildlife biology and has authored three other books, a pictorial history book, a memoir of his late wife's battle with breast cancer, and a fast-paced action novel set in the fictional town of Syracuse, Montana, Montgomery and his wife live on a farmstead in the embrace of the Rocky Mountains. They operate a vacation rental and spend their days attempting to keep up with goats, chickens, and a large garden which provides material for Theodora's line of herbal products.