CHAPTER 5TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN THE AIR
As I mentioned, I’m descended on my mother’s side from the Chafee family, a pioneering New England clan that settled in Rhode Island and Connecticut back in the day when being a New Englander meant more than driving a Volvo. In the early 1900s, my great-grandfather, Jarius Charles Chafee, owned Chafee’s Hotel in Middletown, Connecticut. During prohibition, when Chaffee’s Hotel regularly accommodated a steady stream of visitors, and the speakeasy in the basement regularly accepted a steady stream of moonshine delivered via a small steamship we had on the Connecticut River, a sign hung on the stone fireplace with our family motto:
“As we journey through life, let ...
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