Try to Control Yourself The Regulation of Public Drinking in Post-Prohibition Ontario, 1927-44

The prohibition era of gangsters and bootleggers has captured our imagination. But what happened when the government turned the taps back on? Dan Malleck shows that, contrary to popular belief, post-prohibition Ontario was an age when the government struggled to please both the “wets” and the “dries.” Rather than pandering to temperance groups, officials sought to define and promote manageable drinking spaces in which citizens would follow the rules of proper drinking and foster self-control. Post-prohibition liquor control was not a restrictive regulatory force but rather something more pragmatic – a bureaucratic attempt to balance temperance with recognition that prohibition was unsustainable.