I received invaluable suggestions and support from many people in the writing of this book. Colleagues, students, and friends read the manuscript or commented incisively on the book’s central ideas. I thank Daniel Agar, Jan Agar, Fin Ashworth, Pablo Barranquero, Billie Berry, Stuart Brock, Lucy Campbell, Phil Cook, Jonette Crysell, David Dwyer, Anthony Hall, David Lawrence, Simon Keller, Tom Malone, Edwin Mares, Cei Maslen, Johnny McDonald, Jonathan Pengelly, Sandra Park, Yiyan Wang, and Jennifer Windsor.
Anonymous readers for the Press offered comments leading to many improvements. I hope they can see how their suggestions made the book’s central claims more persuasive.
I’m grateful to Phil Laughlin who expertly shepherded the book through from emailed proposal to printed book. I’m also thankful to Marcy Ross and Bridget Leahy for correcting many awkward sentences.
I owe a different kind of gratitude to the staff at the Aro Street Café, the Brooklyn Deli, and The Bresolin, who kept me supplied with coffee during the writing of these chapters and knew to cut me off at the earliest sign of caffeine psychosis.
Finally, I thank my fantastic wife Laurianne and my magnificent kids Alexei and Rafael. I hope Alexei and Rafael get to enjoy the fruits of a genuinely social age.