Grandpa Snake made illegal moonshine whiskey in the Appalachian Mountains a century ago. His life was forged in a furnace fired hot with coal and shaped on the cold, hard anvil of Prohibition. Criminalizing whiskey promised to rid the country of sin, but instead it criminalized the innocent and the greedy.Grandpa dealt with the issues of his day including clear-cutting the virgin forests, construction of railroads, development of the coal mines, unionization of the mines and women's suffrage. They all changed America and West Virginia, but none were as important to Grandpa Snake as Prohibition. This novel is a fictionalized account of the life of the author's grandfather, based on stories handed down from a century ago. Some of the events are believed to be true, although the details are fiction. Some of the events are probably true, but the details are not. Some of the events are a complete fabrication. Great effort has been made to maximize the authenticity of this novel, but in the end, it is historical fiction.