California wine country

Sosnowski, Vivienne. (2009). When the rivers ran red. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kirkus: How the Napa and Sonoma Valley wineries survived Prohibition.California's wine country is an oft-romanticized region, and newspaper executive Sosnowski, a first-time author, seems to have fallen sway to its well-advertised charms in her attempt to showcase the region's fortitude during Prohibition. While it is true that many families suffered mightily during that period (1919–33), as the entire region's economy was centered around winemaking, the author's narrative lacks the cohesive direction necessary to give the wineries' plight sufficient dramatic tension. Copiously researched, but this particular vintage lacks complexity and depth.