Thanks to so many for help and reading: Claiborne, Marian, and Norma Barksdale, Beckett Howorth IV, Sam Johnston, Po Hannah, Katie Blount, Amanda Hewitt, Darrell Crawford and David McConnell, Debra Winger, Babe Howard, Anne Rapp, Kathryn Wood, Jennifer Ackerman, Bill Cusumano, B. A. Fennelly, Curtis Wilkie, Jack Pendarvis, Gary Fisketjon, Joey Lauren Adams, Lee Durkee, Elizabeth Dollarhide, Jeff Dennis, Tom Verich, Bernard Kuria, Kyle McGrevey, Kathy and Dan Woodliff, Homer Best, David Howorth, Biff Grimes, Patty Orama, and Tim Kosel at easysonglicensing.com. Thanks to my homey, Frank Rich, for a copy of the flabbergasting book Washington Confidential, and to my mom, Claire Johnston; dad, George Neumann; and brother, Rick Neumann, for childhood inspiration. Thanks to Chris Wait and Barbara Epler at New Directions; my friends Phin and Liam Percy, who provided their artistic talents; and to the P.P.P. at the Pig, and the B.D.S. at the Grocery, for keeping me laffing. As always, thanks to my husband, Richard, for advice and putting up. And tons of gratitude is due to my crafty agent, Lisa Bankoff, who gets things off the ground; to my incredibly hardworking, smart editor, Lee Boudreaux; and to everybody at Doubleday, especially the eagle-eyed Cara Reilly, copy editor Amy Edelman, designer Michael Collica, production editor Victoria Pearson, publicist Todd Doughty, and sales reps Julie Kurland and Jess Pearson.