IT IS CUSTOMARY in a book like this, which brings recent essays and new work together, for the writer to thank the editors with whom he or she has collaborated. I want to do this here in an explicit way because skilled and sympathetic editors play a pivotal role in a writer’s work over the years. I do not mean solely by offering a pat on the back or by a willingness to support a writer in the exploration of a place or an event that takes hold of his imagination. The editors who influence me most put the story itself and the reader first. They elicit from the writer greater precision, a more eloquent language, and a more concise narrative to achieve that end. In the search for clarity, it takes a remarkable editor to protect both the spirit of the story and the reader’s interests.
Over the past twenty years I’ve benefited from the astute editorial attention of many good people, foremost among them Lewis Lapham, Charis Conn, Janet Wondra, Robley Wilson, Chip Blake, John Rasmus, Paul Perry, and Laurie Graham, who for many years was my editor at Scribner.
When I started selecting essays and planning additional work for About This Life, I began a collaboration with a new editor, Robin Desser, at Knopf. I quickly learned that I was working with someone who understood, sometimes better than I did, what I was up to; her empathy made many decisions easier. I want to express my gratitude for her guidance in bringing the book and several of the essays to their final form.
Janet Wondra at The Georgia Review edited “Searching for Depth in Bonaire” with me. The essay is reprinted here in virtually the same form in which it appeared in the magazine. Both Sarah Ferrell and Michael Leahy at the New York Times worked with me on “A Short Passage in Northern Hokkaido.” Robley Wilson, the editor of The North American Review, where I have been a contributing editor since 1977, helped sharpen “Orchids on the Volcanoes.” (On this and subsequent trips to the Galápagos I received the generous and genial support of Bill Roberson of Inca Floats.) Gerry Marzorati, then at Harper’s, took the lightest touch of a pencil to “Informed by Indifference.” (It is a pleasure to thank Guy Guthridge, manager of the National Science Foundation’s Artists and Writers in Antarctica Program, for his unstinting support and accommodation on several trips to Antarctica, and Peter Wilkniss, former director of the NSF’s Office of Polar Programs, for his friendship and facilitation.)
Lewis Lapham and Charis Conn at Harper’s, where I have been a contributing editor since 1984, worked on “Flight” with me. (I would like to thank Jon Austin at Northwest Airlines, who understood, as relatively few in media relations do, the level of detail some writers require in order to write the story that interests them. Also Mary Jean Olsen at Boeing, for arranging for me to see the assembly of the 747–400 freighter at Everett, Washington. Odette Fodor and Pits van der Hoeven provided assistance on KLM’s international routes. Paul Omodt of the Airline Pilots Association helped at several points with important information.)
Peter Stine at Witness along with special-issue editor Tom Lyon edited “Apologia.” John Rasmus, then at Outside, edited “In a Country of Light, Among Animals.” Robert Atwan provided editorial guidance when I was writing “The American Geographies” for a collection of work he was editing, Openings: Original Essays by Contemporary Soviet and American Writers (University of Washington Press, 1990). Chip Blake and Emily Hiestand at Orion also helped in editing this essay. “Effleurage: The Stroke of Fire” was also edited by Charis Conn and Lewis Lapham.
Stephen Corey at The Georgia Review worked with me on “Replacing Memory.” Mark Jannot at Men’s Journal, with John Rasmus, edited “A Passage of the Hands.” Robin Cruise at Rocky Mountain magazine helped with “Murder.”
Other essays here benefited from the editorial attention of both Laurie Graham and Robin Desser.
Finally, I would like to thank Peter Matson, my literary agent, who for many years has offered guidance and good counsel in editorial and other matters.