Watch Prohibition | Full Documentary
A Nation of Drunkards
The story of Prohibition's rise and fall is a compelling saga that goes far beyond the oft-told tales of gangsters, flappers, and speakeasies, to reveal a complicated and divided nation in the throes of momentous transformation.
Full Length
96m
Full Length
A Nation of Drunkards
96m
The story of Prohibition's rise and fall is a compelling saga that goes far beyond the oft-told tales of gangsters, flappe
Full Length
A Nation of Scofflaws
111m 59s
In 1920, Prohibition goes into effect and millions of law-abiding Americans become lawbreakers overnight. Drys had hoped P
Full Length
A Nation of Hypocrites
106m 36s
Gangsters make huge profits and wreak havoc in cities across the country. By the late 1920s, many Americans believe that P
About the Film
Prohibition is a three-part, five-and-a-half-hour documentary film series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick that tells the story of the rise, rule, and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the entire era it encompassed.
Prohibition was intended to improve, even to ennoble, the lives of all Americans, to protect individuals, families, and society at large from the devastating effects of alcohol abuse. But the enshrining of a faith-driven moral code in the Constitution paradoxically caused millions of Americans to rethink their definition of morality.
Premiered on PBS: October 2, 2011
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