The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies sequels are the best known and most successful of Potter's books. The author had an affinity for rabbits; she lived with them as pets and observed them closely for years. Though she once wrote that rabbits were creatures of "warm volatile temperaments" and were "shallow and extremely transparent", she invested her rabbits with a variety of characterizations consistent with the nature of the animal. All the rabbit tales were inspired in part by Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus stories, which Potter began illustrating as early as 1893 in an attempt to find career direction and probably because they featured a
George Remus rather famous. By 1920, Remus was earning $50,000 a year (approximately $ today), a vast sum at the time. Alcohol Prohibition began on January 17, 1920 with ratification of the 18th Amendment, and within a few months Remus saw that his criminal clients were becoming very wealthy very quickly. He decided to become a criminal himself, using his knowledge of the law to escape punishment. Remus memorized the Volstead Act and found loopholes whereby he could buy distilleries and pharmacies to sell "bonded" liquor to himself under government licenses for medicinal purposes. Remus's employees would then hijack his own liquor