Confessions of a rum-runner

The names have been changed to protect the guilty, but this is an otherwise-authentic firsthand account of liquor smuggling during Prohibition.

Crackling with excitement and adventure, it ranges from "Rum Row" — where boats anchor beyond the three-mile limit until their illicit cargo can be transferred to speedboats and delivered into the eager hands of bootleggers — to backwoods cabin hideaways and society drawing rooms.

Danger haunts every step of the way, from the perils of choppy seas and attack by hijackers to the ever-present possibilities of capture by the authorities or betrayal by criminal associates.

Author Eric Sherbrooke Walker, who amassed a fortune from his clandestine enterprise, published these memoirs under a pseudonym in 1928.

An Oxford graduate and a decorated World War I veteran, Walker recounts his narrow escapes and hard bargains in the tone of an English gentleman.

The lingo of his underworld cronies enlivens his narrative, along with his droll asides on American character and customs.

This insider's view of a Prohibition-era racket offers fascinating glimpses of a lively historical era as well as rollicking entertainment.