ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Books are only partly products of solitude, and so I must thank the following persons, places, and things:

Tom Cheshire, Jim Hanks, Joseph Salvatore, Matt DeBenedictis, Lauren Culley, Jason Tougaw, Duncan Faherty, John Weir, Carmiel Banasky, Bill Cheng, Alex Gilvarry, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Noa Jones, Tennessee Jones, Brianne Kennedy, Phil Klay, Liz Moore, Jessica Soffer, John Trotta, Sunil Yapa.

Jon Butler, Christine Heyrman, Paul Conkin.

True believers: O.G. Carrie Howland, plus all of Donadio and Olson (interns, too); and the deeply insightful Sarah Bowlin, along with the lovely people at Henry Holt.

Thanks to Jason Richman and the enthusiastic support of United Talent.

The Housing Works Bookstore Café; the dark and low-ceilinged stacks of the New York Society Library; the City University of New York; the Queens College English Department; and Hunter College, especially the Hunter MFA faculty.

Jon Butler’s Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People; Christine Leigh Heyrman’s Southern Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt; Paul Conkin’s Cane Ridge: America’s Pentecost; Sonic Youth, Silver Session for Jason Knuth; Nels Cline and Devin Sarno, Edible Flowers; Dirty Three, Cinder.

Mike Watt, at The Point, Atlanta, Georgia, 1997.

My family.

And best for last: my long-suffering lady, Kate.