"But alcohol has played a surprisingly important role in defining this nation, "

Yet in-spite of the statement that correct claim, this article has skipped over the role alcohol and prohibition played in earning women the right to vote. 

Women's suffrage and prohibition went hand in hand. First-wave feminists pushed hard for prohibition. And those who supported prohibition supported first-wave feminism. The relationship between the two is a bit more nuanced but no historian would deny the essential connection.

It is rather shameful that this article misses this point, especially considering that it comes off as an understandable source on alcohol's "role in defining this nation."