Ira Hook's Legacy

About the Book

Abraham Lincoln who in his earlier days sold apple brandy for 12 cents a half pint said of Whiskey, "Injury did not come from use of a bad thing but from the abuse of a good thing." Ira Hook's Legacy, a historical novel of the first twenty years of 20th century America, chronicles the good and the bad uses of liquor through the lives of the descendents of Ira Hook and his partner, John Fergerson, 17th century farmers whose fortune was attributed to the sale of "cyder spirits". The often violent world of the bootlegger is depicted with meticulous historical detail from the early days of Prohibition as everyday people try to cope with new laws which threaten their ability to earn a living but also give families new hope of escape from alcohol abuse. Through the 'dry' years, they must dodge the law in order to sell their AppleJack and AppleCorn and struggle to raise a family after a beloved patriarch dies. From the Spanish American War through World War I, from horse drawn Tally-hos to the first automobiles, from Carry Nation's stand for sobriety through the Woman Suffrage movement, from a simple toast to good health to a descent into madness and murder...Ira Hook's Legacy is at once an indictment and a celebration of America's struggle to come to grips with personal freedoms.

About the Author

Ed Rudy Wondrack's father was a victim of the Prohibition era (the Roaring Twenties). After being a policeman, he became a bootlegger; made money only to lose it during the Depression of the 30's and became an alcoholic. Ed Rudy, was saved from a similar fate thanks to his mother, sister and brother who managed to hold on to the family home in Union, New Jersey by selling out at a loss the father's business properties in Adelphia and Freehold after Repeal in 1933. He served in the U. S. Navy and Merchant Marines during W. W. II and studied art at the Newark School of Industrial and Fine Arts. Ed Rudy worked at many jobs after leaving art school including commercial and industrial artist, powerhouse and construction worker, teamster, stevedore, metal inspector and landscape farmer. He was hired by an occupational therapist at Greystone Park Asylum as an art instructor where he learned first hand about the world of the mentally ill prior to the use of tranquilizers, when physical restraints such as straight-jackets and isolation rooms were the only tools available. Ed Rudy lives in northwest Pennsylvania and Connecticut with his wife of 51 years.