This book, which revolves around a meditation on a scientist whose work depended in large part on patrons, would have itself been impossible had I not had a faithful patron who has financially supported my work since I gave up tenure in 2004. Aron Sousa has supplied not only our son’s college fund, two roofs (our house and my writing cottage), three squares, and cash for my lawyers and research trips, he has also provided life-saving companionship, laundry and cooking, editing of unclear drafts and crazy thoughts, a wonderful second family, and a consistent mandate that I should do what matters instead of what pays. I only wish my friends would stop asking what I’ve done to deserve him. (I have no answer.)
In 2008, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation awarded me a fellowship to work on this book. I think that if they had not, I would never have had the guts to attempt this particular project. Moreover, if they had expected me, as many funders do, to complete the project in one year, I would never have learned what I have. I will always be grateful to them for the vote of confidence and the long view of productivity, and grateful to the people who supported my Guggenheim application: Barron Lerner, Steve Pinker, Dan Savage, and Miriam Schuchman.
For three years, this project was supported by a human sexualities grant from the Provost’s Office of Northwestern University. I appreciate that financial support, as well as the administrative support given to me at Northwestern by Dan Linzer, Ray Curry, Kathryn Montgomery, and Tod Chambers. Ray and Kathryn in particular offered extraordinary amounts of psychological support, the kind you have to have to survive doing the kind of work I do in academia today. My colleagues and the staff in the Medical Humanities and Bioethics Program at Northwestern have been nothing short of amazing; thanks to Kathryn and Tod, Catherine Belling, Gretchen Case, Megan Crowley-Matoka, Sydney Halpern, Kristi Kirschner, Myria Knox, Bryan Morrison, Debjani Mukherjee, Sarah Rodriguez, and Katie Watson. The staff of the Galter Library has been tremendously helpful in tracking down difficult to locate texts.
Over the years of my work, starting in graduate school, additional funding has been generously provided to me by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, Indiana University, Michigan State University, Cornell College, the California Endowment, the Gill Foundation, the Arcus Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities (through the Hastings Center), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (through the Enhancement Technologies and Human Identity Working Group), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (through Impact Ethics: Making a Difference).
The Impact Ethics group has been critically important to my thinking processes in the last two years. I am especially grateful to Françoise Baylis, Jocelyn Downie, Barry Hoffmaster, and Leigh Turner. For help in thinking through and sometimes cowriting about the Bailey, Tierney, and/or dexamethasone projects, as well as pediatric normalizations, academic freedom, and research ethics, I am particularly grateful to Marc Breedlove, Jim Brown, Andrew Burnett, Ann Carmichael, Mike Carome, MK Czerwiec, Carl Elliott, Joel Frader, Ed Goldman, Phil Gruppuso, the late Mary Ann Harrell, Kelly Hills, Mark Hochhauser, Joel Howell, Cindy Jordan, Christine Kelsey, Rosa Lee Klaneski, Anne Lawrence, Hilde Lindemann, Ruth Macklin, Jamie Nelson, Nigel Paneth, Erik Parens, Bill Peace, Susan Reverby, John Schwartz, Lois Shepherd, Jason Stallman, the late Kiira Triea, Eric Vilain, Roger Webb, and Sid Wolfe. Research assistance for projects discussed in this book came from a delightful series of people who were or then became friends: Colleen Kiernan, Taylor Sale, Yorgos Strangas, and Val Thonger. For legal advice and representation, I am grateful to Karen Mayer at Penguin Press, Cathy Jacobs, Thad Morgan, and J. J. Burcham. Janet Green and Anne Tamar-Mattis turned out to be ideal company in the dexamethasone forest, and for her classy public leadership through that forest, I am also grateful to Hilde Lindemann. Ken Kipnis also deserves special mention, for making me both laugh and cry every time he wished me “strength to your arm.” My thanks also go to all the people who provided interviews and other source material, including especially Mary McCarthy, and all of the people who reviewed my manuscripts on these topics, including especially the journal editors Randy Cruz, Jane Lancaster, and Ken Zucker. I am also indebted to Doug Hume for his online “AnthroNiche” document collection.
I hope the text of this book at least hints at the gratitude I feel toward my parents for bringing me up with a sense of purpose. What I am sure is not clear in this book is how my siblings (including my “sisish”) and my friends have kept me sane and even laughing. In terms of “chosen” family, I am particularly grateful to Val Thonger and Ken Sperber, Libby Bogdan-Lovis and Bill Lovis, Danny Black, April G. K., April Herndon, Vic Loomis, Ellen Weissbrod, and Paul Vasey.
Perhaps the best thing about this work is the three close friends the three major projects in this book have brought me: Ray Blanchard, Ray Hames, and Ellen Feder. If Ellen had not been by my side through the entire dexamethasone affair, I think I might not have been able to continue that work. Her clarity, humility, and anger formed a guiding light for me. David Sandberg was already a friend when he pulled me into dex but, through that work, he became someone with whom I look forward to growing old and more crotchety.
Mark Oppenheimer did me the great good service of introducing me to Betsy Lerner, who was kind enough to become my agent and to be the person who shaped this project into something that a mainstream press would understand. She then arranged a contract with editor Colin Dickerman at Penguin Press, a dream come true. After Colin left, Jeff Alexander became the chief editor for the book, and, with the help of editorial assistants Sofia Groopman and Will Carnes, brought to the work the focus and clarity it had been needing. I cannot imagine a better agent-editor combination than Betsy and Jeff.
Finally, I would like to thank our son for his interest in and support of my work. It cannot have been easy to have grown up with this book, but somehow he has always managed to second his father’s vote of confidence in the work. I am so thankful to him for the way he has raised me.