This book describes journeys that I made over a period of thirty years. In four of the chapters, I have drawn upon material that was previously published elsewhere.
I would like to thank all those who accompanied me, or who facilitated my travelling or returning home, among them Lilian Henriquez Cruz and Manuel Antonio Berrocal, Anastasia Owchinnikowa and Sergei Markov, Monika Knapp and Rajiv Nepali, Nadia Nashir Karim and Mirwais Nashir, Hanni and Viktor Alder, Jasmin Pienaar, Jan Willemsen, Joseph Vogl and Insa Wilke.
My thanks are also due to Christina Ihle, whose help in researching material was invaluable, and to Wolfgang Jamann for his friendly companionship. I am most grateful, too, to the first readers of this book, Frauke Abraham and Werner Köhler for their perceptive comments on the manuscript. My especial thanks must go to my editor Jürgen Hosemann, the ideal reader, and Michael Horbach, whose generous support for this project was like that of some latter-day Maecenas.