Maybe thanklessness stems from the pride of wanting to be father to ourselves, from the desire to imagine that we have done everything on our own; either/or, my mentor, Philip Rieff, who pops up in the preceding pages and to whom I am eternally grateful, used to moan about what he termed “the iron law of ingratitude.” And so it is with some trepidation, lest I forget to press someone’s hand, that I acknowledge my debt to the people who have helped bring this book to fruition.
I am a cornerman in boxing. In terms of coaching, it is one of the most intense and intimate tasks in sports. So too in writing. I have been blessed to have a tight cadre of people working my corner. My agent, Jill Kneerim, provided both emotional support and literary guidance from the opening to the final bell. Dr. Beatrice Beebe knew better than I the inner roadblocks that I would face in trying to face myself in this endeavor. When I lost confidence, she was there and has always been there. My editor son, Philip Marino, performed as a gentle coach to the dad who coached him on the gridiron. I embrace him for his editorial comments and clarity of vision, but also for not tolerating his father’s whining. I thank my son Paul, my brother, Thomas, and my brother of the spirit, Ned Rogers, for patiently listening to my bellyaching while gently pushing me forward. My wife, Susan, to whom this book is dedicated, has always been the first and last line of the editorial process in virtually everything I have written. My debt to her has no horizon.
Mark Tauber, publisher of HarperOne, was the prime mover behind this enterprise. His imagination and confidence in me set this project in motion; for that and more, I will always be grateful. I am much obliged to Miles Doyle, my highly astute and patient editor. Always flexible and gentle with his wise suggestions, Miles was able to discern connections that were out of my line of intellectual vision. I also want to express my appreciation to Eva Avery and Suzanne Quist for their deft work at shaping and burnishing the nuggets of wisdom that I was trying to articulate. I am beholden to Noah Greenberg for his discerning eye and generosity.
With my being a professor and director of the Hong Kierkegaard Library, there were umpteen times when my associate Eileen Shimota stepped in to deal with situations and help free me to find time to write. I am profoundly grateful for the interference she ran and for her enthusiastic encouragement.