Whitman's novel has just recently (2007) been
brought back into print, with an introduction,
and a couple of shorter Whitman pieces (plus
Abe Lincoln's 1842 Springfield Washingtonian
address). My recollection is that the book
was never really finished off, and in any case
the whole production is brief. As to whether
it's worth reading, that depends on your taste
in temperance literature, but it's scarcely a
long read, and there's some good journalism in
it, and it's written at a critical point in
American temperance literature, besides being
by a major author (if in a very minor key),
so I'd say yes, but that's just my opinion.

-- Jared Lobdell