Nashville's Gilded Age-Whiskey, Power and Politics

 

Clay Shwab has brought us the story of Manny Shwab and the

George Dickel Company. 

If you are like me, you never thought of Nashville as having a 

Gilded Age.  When I think of the Gilded Age I think of 1865 to 1898, even though some say it lasted into the 1919's.

There was once a Tennessee whiskey that dwarfed Jack Daniel's, and a powerful man was behind it: V.E. "Manny" Shwab. Until now, virtually nothing has been written about either. Their story is one of a Jewish Alsatian immigrant's dream of finding community and prosperity in the New world; and about  his son who rose to dominate Tennessee politics, whiskey and finance for decades. Of smuggling during the Civil War; of the raging, sometimes fatal, battle against Prohibition; and of the wild side of rapidly growing Nashville during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

"Manny" Shwab was a Tennessean known as the "owner" of Tennessee politics, and–because of his George Dickel company, saloons, and Cascade Whisky–the "debaucherer of more young men than anyone else in the state." He was also one of Tennesee's richest and most powerful men for four decades. This is the first full-length biography of V. E. Shwab, written by his great-grandson, and also the first complete history of the George Dickel company.

Who better to tell us about Manny Shwab and the George Dickel Company that Manny's great-grandson. We are all familiar with Jack Daniels, but how many of us know the history of the George Dickel Company?

The Author: Clay Shwab  taught business management, senior thesis, and management in literature at Maryville College for 10 years after a business career at Whittle Communications, Snyder Communications and Edison Schools. He lives in Maryville, Tennessee.