[applause] edward lengel is the editor-in-chief of the papers of george washington. for more information visit gw papers dot virginia.edu. >> mr. thompson, what's your book about? >> i like to say my book is about moonshine, but that one word often requires thousands more of explanation because i'm trying to take what people think about this subject, moonshine director into the history of a broader time period in american history. and this was the 1930s during prohibition, and the air of the depression. >> why didn't moonshine me to america in the 1920s, 1930s? >> of course, america even back in his formation had always had spirit, flickr, as part of its social gathering and so forth. three of our first five presidents had liquor distilleries on their plantation. for example. and we 1919 came around and the nation forbade anyone from making or distributing alcohol, suddenly here we have both a time period of deep poverty and unemployment, 25%, and a tiger when the government is saying it's illegal to have liquor. suddenly there's a great market for illegal whiskey. s