Moonshine: A Life in Pursuit of White Liquor

By Alec Wilkinson

Book Overview

A wonderfully alive portrait of an American original who is the most successful revenue agent in the history of a state that has always been enormously productive of moonshine, also serving as a memorable account of life in backwoods Halifax County, North Carolina.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394545877
• ISBN13: 9780394545875
• Release Date: August 1985
• Publisher: Knopf
• Length: 153 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Really excellent reportage.

I grew up in Tidewater, VA, and I've travelled many of the roads and known the sorts of boys Wilkinson writes about. He really nailed that regional culture, and his ear for dialogue and dialect is finely tuned.

An honest look at a vanishing way of life

I grew up not far from Ahoskie, NC, one of the towns author Alec Wilkinson visits in his book. I was astonished at the accuracy of his portrayal of the people and way of life in rural eastern North Carolina. Wilkinson makes no judgments and draws no conclusions. He simply writes a wonderfully detailed and honest portrait of these people and the politics & life of the moonshiners and revenuers of the swamplands. In the past few years this rural way of life has quickly vanished - pressed from the east by the growth of the tourist industry and overdevelopment of the Outer Banks, and from the west by the rapid growth of the Research Triangle. Moonshine has been replaced by homegrown marijuana. Most small farmers have been bought out by corporate farms and the small towns have become bedroom communities for larger metro areas, with people in Gates and Northampton counties working as far away as Quantico and Williamsburg, VA. I've loaned out my copy of "Moonshine" so many times it is falling apart, but I've never found another book that so accurately describes the world I grew up in. For my transplanted Yankee friends here in the Triangle it has been a great introduction to the rural South. The first Wilkinson book I read was "Midnights", his description of a summer spent as the night patrolman in a small coastal town in Massachusetts. I was struck by his powers of description, and the honest effort of researching his subject by spending many long hours on the job. It is also a fine book. For anyone interested in a slice of life, or just great writing, I'd recommend this book without hesitation. Ken Strayhorn Chapel Hill NC