I’m deeply grateful to my mother, Beth McCartney, my colleague Kirsten Grimstad, and my friend Gleah Powers for our conversations about the dead. (Kirsten’s eulogy for Aino Passonen, “The Passing of a Dear Friend,” circulated through Antioch University e-mail in 2010, was also essential.)
Many thanks to my colleagues at Antioch University LA in the Undergraduate Studies Program and MFA Creative Writing Program, especially MFA chair Steve Heller.
I’m indebted to my agent, Terra Chalberg, for her astute aesthetic guidance and all-round support.
I’m profoundly grateful to everyone at the University of Wisconsin Press for their support and hard work on the book: Dennis Lloyd, director; Scott Mueller and Sheila McMahon for their incredible editing, as well as managing editor Adam Mehring; communications director Sheila Leary for her amazing work on promotions and marketing; marketing intern John Leinonen; sales and marketing manager Andrea Christofferson; acquisitions assistant Amber Rose; rights and permissions manager Anne McKenna; production assistant Patrick Flynn; and the designer of the book cover, Jeremy Parker.
A special thanks must go to executive editor Raphael Kadushin for believing in this book and his unequivocal support.
Thank you to Cezar Popescu, curator of the Costică Acsinte Archive, for providing the image for the front cover of this book. The photograph is one of thousands made by Costică Acsinte, a Romanian photographer, active during World War I and later. Discover more of his photographs and portraits at http://colectiacosticaacsinte.eu.
And eternal thanks, always, to my husband, Tim Miller, for believing in me, for supporting me emotionally during the difficult and long process of completing this book, and for his keen and insightful reading of this book through various drafts.