Well, I am now coming up to half way through Amy Mittelman's book Brewing Battles and I have to tell you that as far as I am concerned this is the best book on US beer history I have had my hands on. That being said, I admit I have not got a copy of 1962's Brewed in America The level of research and detail is simply richer that found in Ambitious Brew and, unlike Beer In America: The Early Years, it's not just about the early years.

There are details about the relative standard of living of brewery workers, attention to the implications of the labour movement as well as little reliance on court documents, which I recognize as a lawyer as something of a wonky class of record to rely upon given its purpose. Many of the citations relating to contemporaneous articles, many from the brewing trade journals of the day. There is a good explanation of the role of taxation and beer from the Civil War when it became a prime source of Federal Revenue to WWI when income tax replaced it, thus assisting in the freeing up beer to be part of prohibition. While not as dry as Tremblay and Tremblay, there is an academic tone to the book but once you are rolling along with the text, it's not an issue.

It is true that the quality of the publication's layout, something of a sore spot apparently and really only a matter of pocket depth, but that should be overcome with the quality of the footnoting which, combined with internet news archiving and Google Books, allows the reader to corroborate much of the detail on the go if that is what you are into.

Buy it.