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"The fantastic story of George Remus makes the rest of the 'Roaring Twenties' look like the 'Boring Twenties' in comparison. It's all here: murder, mayhem - and high-priced hootch." - David Pietrusza, author of 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents "An aggressive, ambitious foray into the brutal life and times of George Remus, written in lucid, hard-hitting, tight prose. . . ." - Phillip Sipiora, editor of Mind of an Outlaw: Selected Essays of Norman Mailer On the 100th anniversary of The Volstead Act comes the deeply researched, epic, definitive story of George Remus, the man who cracked the Prohibition system, turned it on its ear, became one of the world's richest criminal masterminds, and inspired The Great Gatsby. In October 1919, Prohibition was given teeth. But the law didn't stop George Remus from amassing a $200 million fortune (a few billion dollars today) . As one Jazz Age journalist put it, "Remus was to bootlegging what Rockefeller was to oil." Author Bob Batchelor breathes life into the largest bootlegging operation in America--greater than that of Al Capone--and a man considered the best criminal defense lawyer of his era. Remus bought an empire of distilleries on "The Bourbon Trail" and used his other profession, as a pharmacist, to profit off legal loopholes. He spent millions bribing officials in the Harding Administration, and he created a roaring lifestyle that epitomized the Jazz Age over which he ruled. That is, before he came crashing down in one of the most sensational murder cases in American history: a cheating wife, the G-man who seduced her and put Remus in jail, and the plunder of Bourbon Empire. Remus murdered his wife in cold blood and claimed a condition he invented--temporary maniacal insanity--with shocking success. Love, murder, mountains of cash, bribery, political intrigue, rivers of bourbon, and a grand spectacle like few before it, the tale of George Remus provides readers with a lens into the dark heart of Prohibition's "Bourbon Trail."



About the Author

Bob Batchelor

Bob Batchelor is a critically-acclaimed cultural historian and biographer. He is the author of Stan Lee: A Life (Rowman & Littlefield, October 2022) , Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel, Young Adult Edition (Rowman & Littlefiled, October 2022) , and Roadhouse Blues: Morrison, the Doors, and the Death Days of the Sixties (Hamilcar Publications, November 2022) . He has published books on Bob Dylan, The Great Gatsby, Mad Men, and John Updike. His latest, Rookwood: The Rediscovery and Revival of an American Icon, An Illustrated History won the 2021 Independent Publishers Book Award for Fine Art. The Bourbon King: The Life and Crimes of George Remus, Prohibition's Evil Genius won the 2020 Independent Publishers Book Award for Historical Biography. Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel was a finalist for the 2018 Ohioana Book Award for Nonfiction. Bob's books have been translated into a dozen languages and his work has appeared in Time magazine, the New York Times, Cincinnati Enquirer, and Los Angeles Times. Bob is also the creator and host of the podcast John Updike: American Writer, American Life. He has appeared as an on-air commentator for The National Geographic Channel, PBS NewsHour, PBS, and NPR. Bob hosted "TriState True Crime" on WCPO's Cincy Lifestyle television show. Bob earned his doctorate in American Literature from the University of South Florida. He has taught at universities in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, as well as Vienna, Austria. Bob lives in North Carolina with his wife Suzette and their teenage daughters. For more information, visit



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