I would like to acknowledge the enormous help given to me by my editor at Norton, Jill Bialosky, who has labored relentlessly on behalf of myself and the reader to make this book as comprehensive and understandable as possible. Also Ann Adelman for her thorough and painstaking copyediting and valuable suggestions.
I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of my daughter Gabrielle Levenkron in preparing the first draft of this work. And I must thank my agent of twenty years, Olga B. Wieser, at Wieser and Wieser, for her invaluable assistance and advice.