Whenever I receive a book to review that is written by some hotshot ivy leaguer, I brace myself for all the deception and tomfoolery that I will have to endure. Peter Andreas’s Smuggler Nation, however, turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Indeed, I can recommend this book to anyone interested in a true history.
Reading Andreas’s account we can note first of all that smuggling in America has been around since colonial days and will continue into the foreseeable future. Moreover, smuggling has played a very prominent role — not just a subsidiary one — through our history. Indeed it has often played a pivotal role in important events and historical episodes. And finally, Andreas’s account illustrates how smuggling is the result of prohibitions and protective tariffs. The cumulative impact of these policies has been the driving force for the establishment of big government and the police state in America.
Andreas makes it clear that the policies that create incentives to smuggle are irrational, ineffective, and often counterproductive. He also makes it clear that Americans have been duped into supporting various prohibitions to suppress vice by self-promoting politicians, self-interested bureaucrats, moralistic crusaders, and a compliant press. It is also interesting to note that smugglers were often considered heroes, if not by the majority, then certainly by consumers they served. It is also important to point out that readers will find that many of the wealthy and prominent families in American history, including several of our founding fathers, first grew rich on the profits from smuggling.
