Henry Nino was a Jew, to be precise, of mixed Germanic and Jewish descent.
His father came from Germany, used to run several wineries, and married a Jewish woman. According to Jewish teachings, all people who convert to Judaism and are born to Jewish mothers are Jewish.
When Henry was a child, his family was very wealthy, and he attended an aristocratic school during high school.
From World War I to the economic crisis of 1929, the United States was developing at a roaring pace. All walks of life were advancing by leaps and bounds, and you could make money in any business, with the exception of the brewing industry.
When the family's wine business was booming, Henry's father planned to expand the scale of production. He mortgaged the two wine estates under his name, purchased new winemaking equipment and production lines, and hired top winemaking engineers from France.
Then, there is no more...
The federal government suddenly enacted one of the stupidest laws in the history of the United States, Prohibition.
Henry's family was heavily in debt and fell from a millionaire to a poor man. His father also committed suicide by gunshot.
Henry, who had been admitted to a prestigious school, had to give up his studies to make a living. He was responsible for taking care of his mother, two brothers, and three sisters.
"Ding dong, ding dong!"
Henry rang the doorbell of a house in a wealthy area, and soon a housewife opened the door.
Henry smiled and said: "Hello, madam, I am..."
"Salesman?" The housewife looked at the big box he was carrying and interrupted unceremoniously, "Sorry, I don't need to buy anything."
Henry's smile remained unchanged and he said confidently: "I think your husband must need it. I am selling grape bricks."
Before the housewife could say anything, a balding middle-aged man rushed out. He asked in surprise: "Is it really grape bricks?"
"Of course, this grape brick uses the most traditional technology and is homemade by my mother and sister at home. The taste is very pure," Henry said, his expression suddenly turned serious, "Sir, the law is sacred.
As a law-abiding citizen, you must not add sugar or yeast, otherwise the grape bricks will ferment into wine."
The balding middle-aged man smiled and said: "Of course. How can a famous lawyer like me violate the law? You must tell me the process of fermentation into wine in detail, so that I can effectively avoid the situation from happening.
"
Henry said politely: "We can go inside and talk, what do you think?"
"Of course, please come in." The balding middle-aged man said happily.
Henry dragged the big box in, took out a grape brick and said: "For such a large grape brick, you should not add 0.5 gallons of water, and you must not add 50 grams of sugar. As for yeast, I firmly oppose the use of Warren
Special yeast, that kind of yeast is too easy to ferment and make wine."
The balding middle-aged man took out his notebook and pen and said righteously: "Please tell me about the process and how I can avoid turning it into wine."
"Okay, let me write it down for you." Henry said.
"Are you literate? Oh, that's great." The bald middle-aged man said happily.
While Henry was writing about circumventing the wine-making process, he denounced the harmful effects of alcohol with the bald middle-aged man. Finally, the two reached a deal, and the bald middle-aged man bought all the grape bricks he brought. He shook hands enthusiastically and said: "Young man, I really appreciate your maintenance of wine."
The attitude of the law. If you have materials and methods to circumvent the production of spirits, I hope to continue to communicate with you. After all, spirits are more harmful than wine, and we must resolutely prevent them from appearing!"
"It's a great honor. I'll come to visit you another day." Henry smiled.
Just as the two finished talking, there was a sudden knock on the door, and then several plainclothes men rushed in with guns.
The balding middle-aged man yelled: "This is my private residence, it is sacred and inviolable, please get out immediately!"
"We are FBI prohibition agents, please accept the search!"
The person coming showed their identification.
The balding middle-aged man's face changed slightly, and he cursed in a low voice: "These damn bastards!"
When the FBI was first established, it was just a small player affiliated with the Department of Justice. But because of Prohibition, this organization was spawned into a behemoth. They could ignore the Constitution and invade private property at will in the name of Prohibition.
Until the end, the FBI grew into a tiger that even the president of the United States talked about.
"What is this?" the FBI prohibition agent asked, pointing to the grape brick.
Henry helped explain: "This is grape bricks, a very nutritious dried fruit food."
The balding middle-aged man agreed: "Yes, I like eating dried fruits very much, especially grapes. The taste is so wonderful."
The FBI agents naturally knew what was going on, but there were loopholes in the law that everyone could exploit, and there was nothing they could do about it. They ignored the grape bricks and began to search the family's basement and garage, and finally found several bottles of fruit wine from the closet.
The FBI agent immediately issued a $1,000 fine. The balding middle-aged man argued hard, discussed the prohibition laws with the agents, and cited evidence and evidence to prove that he had not broken the law.
Well, in the end, the agent was bribed with $100, and both parties were happy. $100 was enough for the average American worker at this time to work for two and a half months.
After completing the business, Henry quickly ran to the stock exchange and converted most of the money he earned today into stocks, leaving only a small amount of living expenses for emergencies.
In 1927, the manufacturing industry in the United States continued to decline, and the number of unemployed people hit record highs, but the stock market was in full swing. By early 1928, the stock market was already crazy, and even illiterate peasant women in rural towns talked about stocks all day long.
Henry has made thousands of dollars by selling alcohol-related products in the past few years, and has invested it in the stock market one after another. If the money was cashed out, it would be more than 5,000 dollars, which is more than five times the amount.
Henry planned to use the money as start-up capital in another year to build a small factory specializing in the production of grape bricks and reorganize the family brewing business.
After buying some bread for his mother and younger siblings, Henry walked into a bookstore and asked the clerk: "Are there any new books?"
The clerk enthusiastically introduced: "There are more than ten new books published on New Year's Day, please come with me!"
Henry loved reading. His original ideal was to be a scholar, especially geography, history and literature. Unfortunately, in order to support his family, he had to work as a salesman, selling homemade grape bricks to law-abiding customers.
"Hey, wasn't "The Silver Horse" by James Cabeca published more than a year ago?" Henry asked, pointing to a new book.
The clerk explained: "This is a revised hardcover edition, and several new short stories have been added."
"Really? Then I must read it." Henry said with a smile.
From 1919 to 1939, it was the golden age of American literature. During these 20 years, a total of seven Nobel Prize winners in literature appeared in the United States, including five novelists, one poet and one playwright.
American citizens also like to buy books and read, especially in the 1920s. Due to the vigorous development of society, the increase in the middle class, the literacy rate and savings of the lower class civilians are also constantly increasing, and the American publishing industry is showing a prosperous scene.
The booming publishing market has even improved the moral thinking of publishers.
Especially those large publishing houses believe that books are a special item with public value. Good books should be respected for their intellectual value, aesthetic value and social value. They regard publishing books as a "conceptual industry" and a "gentleman's business".
"Business", the leading nature of concepts is the soul of books.
Sometimes when a good book is found, large publishing houses would rather not make money but go crazy to promote and distribute it. They firmly believe that letting readers access truly good books is the mission of publishing. Because of this, the American book publishing industry in this era has
The annual profit margin is only 3% to 4%, even lower than bank deposit interest, but publishers are still happy with it.
This situation did not begin to change until the 1980s. At that time, book publishing became the second entertainment industry, and the publishing of pictures also evolved into a purely commercial activity.
Of course, even in the American publishing industry in the 1920s, making money was still the top priority. Efforts to promote good books that did not make money were just a means to increase the influence of publishing houses. Never trust the conscience of capitalists.
Henry took down "Silver Horse" from the bookshelf and walked to a part of the book with two volumes. He asked: "Which famous scholar is this "The Rise of the Great Powers" written by?"
The clerk introduced: "This is written by a Chinese scholar. I heard that it is highly praised by the historical community. Mr. Marcus is also planning to write a preface for this book."
"Is that Mr. Marcus from Harvard?" Henry asked.
"Yes." The clerk smiled.
Henry asked politely: "Can I look through it first?"
The clerk said: "Of course, please do whatever you want."
Henry opened the first volume of "The Rise of the Great Powers" and first read Marcus's preface, which read: "I have read part of the book "The Rise of the Great Powers" one after another, all of which I read in Europe.
Sent by a friend. I am very happy that it will be officially released in the United States. This book has clear arguments and is insightful. It is suitable for both refined and popular people. Both professional scholars and ordinary citizens can find fun in it. If you are a history major
, or if you are a history buff, then don’t miss it..."
The book recommended by Mr. Marcus must be a good book!
Henry thought this way and started to read the text. He started reading "The Netherlands" and fell into it without realizing it, completely forgetting that he was still in the bookstore.
After about half an hour, the clerk finally couldn't help but remind him: "Sir, have you decided to buy it?"
"Ah? Oh, of course," Henry said as if he had found a treasure, "I must buy it. This is a magical work. I have never seen such a great world history work."
The U.S. price of "The Rise of Great Powers" is 1 U.S. dollar and 80 cents for the whole set. It's not cheap, but it's not expensive either. Ordinary workers earn less than a day's wages. Today, the weekly salary of the American working class is about 12 to 14 U.S. dollars.
Henry went home with "The Rise of the Great Powers" and "The Silver Horse". He didn't even bother to eat. He read while holding the bread, completely ignoring the passage of time.