ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book originated with a suggestion by our editor, Daniela Rapp, whose patient guidance and insights shepherded the manuscript to completion. Our agent and my longtime friend, Daniel Bial, provided essential support and his usual astute advice. I would also like to thank my research assistants, Anna Kearns, Miliana Budimirovic, and Julia Benjamin; Meg Grotti and the cheerfully helpful staff of the Morris Library at the University of Delaware; and Pat Garnett and the equally generous staff at the Albin O. Kuhn Library of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Any errors in the manuscript belong to Nick and myself alone.

My deepest gratitude, of course, goes to my family, without whom I could never have brought this book home.

—WILL KLINGAMAN

I would like to thank Dr. Bethan Harris of the Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, who pointed me in the direction of some very useful information on the eruption of Tambora and its effects on global climate. I should also thank Mrs. Catherine Turner, the Department of Meteorology librarian, who helped locate resources at the British Library. The staff at the British Library also provided assistance in locating the letters from Robert Peel to Lord Liverpool and Lord Sidmouth.

—NICK KLINGAMAN