Acknowledgments

Davidson: Full of nervous energy after completing my dissertation, I contacted my friend, colleague, and coeditor, George Yancy, about the idea of putting together an edited book on bell hooks. To my tremendous relief and elation not only did George think that it was an excellent tribute to a great thinker, but he honored me by agreeing to collaborate with me on this text. So I thank you, George, for your time, patience, brilliant editing, and most importantly for your friendship. I would also like to offer a heartfelt thank you to Dr. Susan Hadley—a fellow scholar, sista, and mother—for her help in formatting this text.

I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Jeanette R. Davidson, the Director of the African and African-American Studies Program at the University of Oklahoma, who has been a world of support.

I would like to thank all of the contributors for their time and excellent contributions. I would like to thank Heather Jarrow, Dr. Michael Apple, and Routledge for providing us the chance to publish with such an extraordinary press.

Finally, this project could not have been possible without the work of bell hooks whose writing and activism is a gift to humanity.

Yancy: To Lupe, my coeditor, I thank for asking me to colabor in freedom to put this text together. We work well together—kindred spirits who refuse to settled for just average. I would like to thank bell hooks/Gloria Watkins for giving us so many gifts, so much to engage, and so much to take us higher and deeper. Heather Jarrow at Routledge and Michael Apple are thanked for immediately recognizing the importance of this work. Michael is especially to be thanked for his delightful demeanor toward two editors working under tight time constraints. The contributors are thanked for the time and effort that they put into their contributions. I appeal to the Yancy boys’ sense of forgiveness that their dad took up so much of their summer. I love and owe you—Gabriel, Elijah, Joshua, and (the newly arrived) Samuel. As for Susan—“filled with life”—I thank you for your efforts at finding the energy to engage this text with such care and dedication.