... didn't work then nor with the Volstead Act (the nationwide "experiment" with prohibition that enabled Al Capone and others similiarly situated to prosper.) This is the story of Oklahoma's coming into the United States of America with a "dry" State Constitution. It took an ice storm in the early 1980's to rid it of all those vestiges. The book is a well written study of what happens when the separation of Church & State is a sham. It is important reading today. As George Santayana admonished: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Journey Toward Hope is a history of African-Americans in Oklahoma, emphasizing the period after statehood (post-1907). Race relations and segregation are detailed in this period of Jim Crow laws. This is a little-told part of Oklahoma's history and one that needs to be more broadly understood. African-Americans in Oklahoma faced many of the same prejudices and difficulties that Blacks faced in the Deep South, but also were able to maintain a high level of involvement and activism in securing their full participation in American society. Ground-breaking court cases that eventually led to the dramatic Supreme Court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education and culminated in the 1964 Civil Rights Act are presented in an interesting writing style that never gets bogged down in legal-ese. This is a personal story of people and the contributions they made to improve their lives and their communities, improving their country in the process. It is well written with good notes on sources, of which the majority are primary, with some personal interviews between the author and the historical figures. Journey Toward Hope is a very good account of a little-told part of Oklahoma history and American history and well worth the read.