Customer Reviews

One Eye Closed, the Other Red: The California Bootlegging Years

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Got this book as a gift from mom and dad. Walker was a teacher of mine in High School and college. Started reading it just in kind of a way to say thanks for all he taught and found the old professor instructing me yet again. Cliff Walker has a way of making you interested in whatever he's interested in and getting you revved up to go off in your own direction and provide light on a new subject. Since getting it I havn't been able to put it down. The people who are such a part of our history cease to be mythic gods and have put real faces and life into it. Understand this! It is not so much a history book as it great tales about a past we knew was there but scarcely considered. Walker has made the past come alive in a way that few history books ever have...

Thanks again Cliff.

"One Eye Closed the other Red" is the most interesting, humorous , and comprehensive treatment of the Prohibition era that was such an important social storm in our countrys not too distant past. In his book Walker lets us understand and enjoy the "Bootlegging" years that many of us were born in. This is a rich, fun filled account as well as an important book that everyone should have in their library. Cliff Walker has written this as a labor of love and I appreciate the many years of labor he put into it. Thanks Cliff.

One Eye Closed, The Other Red is clearly an independently published book--errors are legion here--but as a basic and thorough resource for an obscure corner of California and American history, it's a delight. There are enough thrilling true and personal stories for a year's worth of dinner table memories: funny and sad, violent and not. It's colorful and exciting and also provides a palpable sense of its time and a warning of the injustices and disruptions caused when fanatics and idealists are allowed too much sway over our lives. Better histories of this time and place await to be written, but this book will provide a sound foundation for future writers. Overall, invaluable.


Thomas Burchfield
Author of the supernatural thriller Dragon's Ark, due March 15, 2011, from Ambler House
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