Over the course of writing this book I received helpful suggestions from Dr. Michael Foley, Dr. Diane Moczar, Dr. John Rao, and Professor Carol Long. I also wish to thank Dr. Anthony Rizzi, director of the Institute for Advanced Physics and author of the important book The Science Before Science: A Guide to Thinking in the 21st Century, for vetting Chapter Five. Any errors of fact or interpretation are, of course, solely my own.
I must make special mention of Doreen Munna and Marilyn Ventiere of my college’s interlibrary loan department for cheerfully fulfilling my requests for old, hard-to-find, and long-forgotten titles.
Once again, working with Regnery has been a pleasure. The book certainly benefited from the comments and suggestions of executive editor Harry Crocker, and managing editor Paula Decker reviewed the manuscript with her usual attention to detail.
I started writing this book before I was approached with the idea for The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, my third book. To meet the deadline for that project I put this one aside for a little while and eventually returned to it last year. I completed the manuscript two days before our second child, Veronica Lynn, was born. My dear wife, Heather, was her usual supportive self throughout what was often a difficult nine months for her, and I am deeply grateful.
The book is dedicated to Veronica and Regina (born 2003), our two daughters. I hope it will reinforce what we intend to teach them: that in their Catholic faith they possess the pearl of great price with which they would not want to part for anything in the world. For as Saint Thomas More once said, no one on his deathbed ever regretted having been a Catholic.
THOMAS E. WOODS, JR.
Coram, New York
March 2005