ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My agent, Monika Woods, and my editor, Alexis Sattler, are brilliant readers who made this book much better than it would have been otherwise. They are also tireless advocates. I am immeasurably lucky to work with them both.

I am lucky as well to have many friends who provided invaluable support and feedback. Angelica Baker read many drafts with great insight. I am indebted also to Tara Isabella Burton, Will Chancellor, Scott Cheshire, Ryan Joe, Courtney Elizabeth Mauk, Maxwell Neely-Cohen, Abby Rosebrock, Yvette Siegert, and Chandler Klang Smith.

Much of this book was written at The Oracle Club in Long Island City. Special thanks to Julian Tepper, Jenna Gribbon, and Matthew Gribbon. (Of course, the portraits in this book of The Oracle Club and of Julian and Jenna are pure fiction.) Thanks to Bryce Bauer and Tyler Wetherall. Thanks also to Sandra from the Long Island City UPS store.

Of many books that were helpful, particular gratitude is due to: Terry McDermott’s Perfect Soldiers: The 9/11 Hijackers: Who They Were, Why They Did It; Philip Norman’s John Lennon: The Life; Dave Schwensen’s The Beatles at Shea Stadium: The Story Behind Their Greatest Concert; Larry Siems’s The Torture Report: What the Documents Say About America’s Post-9/11 Torture Program; and John Michael Vlach’s The Afro-American Tradition in Decorative Arts. The 9/11 Commission Report and The Official Senate Report on CIA Torture were also useful.

Few things in my life have been as important to me as the friendship of Michael Seidenberg. What he has created in Brazenhead Books can never be satisfactorily described or repeated.

My writing—along with everything else in my life—would be impossible without the love and support I have consistently received from my mother, Barbara Gerrard, my father, Michael Gerrard, and my brother, William Gerrard.

Thanks most of all to Grace Bello for all her help with this book, and for filling my life with love every single day.