Anderson Author Shines on Both Sides of Prohibition in the South

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

During Prohibition, Bootleggers and Moonshiners in the South had a strange alliance with fire-breathing teetotalers in the pulpits, each finding benefits on the opposite ends of the issue.

Anderson Author Kathryn Smith, who first tackled the subject in “Baptists & Bootleggers: A Prohibition Expedition Through the South…. with Cocktail Recipes,” has brought a new batch of tales of the stills and those who reviled them in her latest book: “Methodists and Moonshiners: Another Prohibition Expedition Through the South…. with Cocktail Recipes.”

Smith, who earned a reputation as an expert of the era with her book “The Gatekeeper: Missy LeHand, FDR, and the Untold Story of the Partnership That Defined a Presidency,” said she is fascinated by the stories from the 1920s-1940s, and finds many parallels to today’s headlines. Smith has also performed a one-woman show as LeHand as part of her deep research and passion for the project. 

Local folks who aren’t familiar with Smith, and her husband Leo, are likely newcomers to Anderson. She came to Anderson in 1986 to serve as editorial-page editor of The Anderson Independent-Mail, and her book reviews became a staple at the newspaper for the next two-plus decades. She and Leo have since been an important part of making Anderson a better place. She is founder of the Cancer Association of Anderson, and has been a part of numerous other community efforts.

She continues to write her Missy LeHand Mystery series of books, also set in the prohibition years, and writes daily for her Substack, “Baptists, Bootleggers, and Everything in Between.”