As the Victorian age drew to a close, and Americans became alarmed at the ready availability of dangerous drugs and rising addiction, Congress began passing the first drug laws. Hep-cats, Narcs, and Pipe Dreams traces the spread of illegal drugs throughout our culture: from the free-wheeling Prohibition era until World War II, when the first drug addiction was largely quelled. Then, in postwar America, there was a tragic resurgence of heroin in the inner cities, while the "flower power" Sixties promoted a huge new middle-class drug culture. Then cocaine begat crack, with all its heart-breaking violence and community destruction.

Hep-cats takes us on a dazzling tour of the American Century, from the glamour of Hollywood during the silent-screen period to Harlem's smoky jazz clubs to Miami's mean streets and Colombia's jungles, detailing the high jinks and dirty tricks of the drug trafficking trade along the way. Jonnes also confronts a contemporary controversial issue, legalization of drugs offering real insight into the ongoing political debate.