Henry Frederick Lutz was Professor of Egyptology and Assyriology and Associate Curator of the Anthropological Museum at the University of California, Berkeley. Best known for his scholarly works on the ancient Near East, Lutz's 1922 volume aimed at a wider audience with a more accessible account of the history of viticulture and brewing in the Ancient Near East. Lutz uses translations of Egyptian hieroglyphs, interpretations of tomb drawings and statuary, as well as Hebrew and Arabic texts, to add to our knowledge of the making of alcoholic beverages in the ancient Near East and to elucidate the drinking customs of these cultures.