I never could have mustered the self-discipline to write this book without the help of a great many wonderful people. Fortunately, expressing my gratitude is a pleasure rather than a chore, so procrastination won’t get in the way.
This would have been a very different (and very much poorer) book had it not been for my friends at Bard College, in particular Jamie Romm, who patiently helped me avoid countless missteps in dealing with the Greeks. Jim Brudvig and Jeff Katz generously arranged library privileges, and Betsy Cawley cheerfully smoothed away library problems. Dimitri Papadimitriou provided a haven at the Levy Economics Institute where I could focus on revisions in a climate of serenity conducive to intellectual endeavor.
This would also be a poorer book had it not been for my friends away from Bard. Tyler Cowen, Eric Felten, Gary Goldring, Charles R. Morris, Lauren Weber, and Susan Wieler kindly read various drafts of the manuscript, offering encouragement and constructive suggestions when I needed them most. I especially benefited from Susan’s copy, which came back redolent of suntan lotion. This tantalizing hint of life outside my office proved a motivating form of aromatherapy for an author already too long in solitary confinement.
There would probably be no book at all had it not been for the great Steve Lagerfeld and his crew at the Wilson Quarterly, which for years has provided a platform for my maunderings (and a safety net for my failings). WQ was where I first published on this topic, and it was thanks to Steve that the piece made any sense at all. Bits and pieces of this book originally appeared in his relentlessly nonhysterical publication, whose reputation somehow remains untarnished in spite of me.
Thanks also to the staff of the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C., where I spent a productive and joyous semester mulling the role government might play in saving us from ourselves. My colleagues—scholars, politicians, diplomats, journalists, and no doubt one or two retired spies—could not have been more stimulating and helpful. Special thanks go to the philosopher Nancy Sherman, whom I met at WWIC, and who cheerfully steered an ignorant scribe toward the relevant Aristotelian texts and away from misinterpretations of them.
While I was writing this book, three superb editors—Erich Eichman, Naomi Riley, and Nick Schulz—assigned me essays and reviews that helped clarify my thinking as well as pay the bills. Helpful scholars and writers include John Bargh, Kevin Beaver, Martha Finnemore, David George, Jeremy Gray, Gene Heyman, Dean Karlan, George Loewenstein, Mark Muraven, Susan Rozelle, Betsey Stevenson, Bruce Thornton, and Justin Wolfers. George Ainslie was especially generous with his time and his insights.
Someday all publishing may be self-publishing, but until that dark hour it remains a team sport. I was lucky to have a bunch of all-stars on my side, including Vanessa Mobley, Jane Fleming, and Virginia Smith at Penguin Press. Patty Fernandez, my copyeditor, is a wizard of the grease pen. I am especially grateful to my agent, Sloan Harris, and his staff at ICM. Nobody is more future-oriented than Sloan, which is why he makes so many good things happen in the present.
Ultimately, of course, it was all for Louise, David, and Nick. Just like everything else.