Four friends encouraged me to publish my recent preoccupations as a book—namely, Lou Pauly, Ryan Balot, Sophie Marcotte Chénard, and Ed Andrew (to whom I also owe the Yeats epigraph that heads the introduction). They nudged, and I succumbed—hence this book, for which I owe them very warm thanks. I’d also like to thank Jeff Kopstein, whose solidarity and sharp wit has helped sustain me through some pretty grim reflections. Finally, I’m grateful to Damon Linker for his strong support of this project.