Acknowledgments

Most of the quotations from the Bible come from Robert Alter’s The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel. As a source on organized crime in Israel, Douglas Century’s series “Holy Land Gangland” in the online magazine Tablet was of great value. My experience in Israel was enormously enhanced by the warm welcome given me by Maya Roman, Ellen Spolsky, and Marcela Sulak, among others. For their support while writing this book, I would like to thank the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and Princeton University for its Hodder Fellowship. For their help and advice along the way, I would like to thank John Dalton, Jameson Ellis, Joshua Ferris, Mary Jo Bang, Peter Ho Davies, Marshall Klimasewiski, Edmund White, Bill Clegg, Pat Strachan, Victoria Matsui, and most of all my wife, Sarah.