Everyone I’ve ever met has been forced to read a portion of this book over the past year, and most were surprisingly generous in answering, “This sentence or that?” “This joke or that?” “Is this grammatically correct?” “Am I being unfair?” “Please read this chapter” and so on.
Before getting to everyone I’ve been tormenting this way, I especially want to thank Jeremy Rabkin, my professor from Cornell, who knows everything about everything, including the French and American Revolutions. Inasmuch as few people seem to know the first thing about the French Revolution, his advice was invaluable, even when he told me to stop comparing MSNBC to the Jacobins.
I also need to single out Marshall Sella for his hours of tireless editing, eventually leading him to scream at me: “DID COMMAS DO SOMETHING TO YOUR FAMILY?”
I also want to thank my extremely clever friends, who have helped not only with enormous portions of this book, but also my columns over the years—Bill Armistead, Hans Bader, Trish Baker, Robert Caplain, Rodney Lee Conover, Miguel Estrada, Sandy Frank, Steve Gilbert, Melanie Graham, James Higgins, Jim Hughes, David Limbaugh, Jay Mann, Gene Meyer, Jim Moody, Ned Rice, and Jon Tukel. You all have busy lives, but you’ve been great friends and terrific editors and joke-generators for me.
I am honored to say that Juan Williams read a portion of this book at my request and gave me some great ideas and edits. I would especially like to thank NPR for irritating Juan enough that he doesn’t even mind that I’m thanking him.
Allan Ryskind and Stan Evans read portions of the book—I’m not telling which portions to protect their reputations—as did law professors Bill Otis and Gary Lawson, who gave me great tips, both legal and libertarian. Eddie Scarry helped find some legislative history for me, and Beda Koorey has provided emergency secretarial services (and hilarious e-mails) over the years.
Thanks to my agent Mel Berger for plowing through the whole first draft—before I even translated it into English! And out of tradition, thanks to my agent for life, Joni Evans.
Finally, humble, amazed, huge, sincerest thanks to my publisher Tina Constable, my editor Sean Desmond, my copy editor Toni Rachiele, my long-suffering footnote editor Stephanie Chan—and everyone at Crown Forum Books, whom I subjected to a special torture by turning my book in three months late. (I had a lot to say!) It’s an amazing team that performed miracles to get this book out on time.