American Sweepstakes: How One Small State Bucked the Church, the Feds, and the Mob to Usher in the Lottery Ageby Kevin Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Books that look at a period of history through the lens of a specific object (Salt: A World History for example) are one of my favorite ways to learn about history. This book is like that in that while it is focused on the NH Sweepstakes there are a lot of side stories that weave into that history (the Brinks Heist and the Kennedy assassination among them). Flynn is a great storyteller and he brings this story of legislation and state government policymaking (which is more interesting than it sounds anyway) to life with quirky details, language that fits the story, and background stories that illuminate why people may have acted as they did.
This is a very enjoyable book about a sliver of New Hampshire history that still impacts our state's schools.
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