I would like to express my deep gratitude and thanks to my colleagues Daniel Christensen and Claudia Salvador for their stellar contribution to the book. Their research skills, sensitivity to details, and command of the language show up on every page of the book. Their dedication to the task and commitment to tight deadlines, which often went into the evenings and on weekends, kept the project on schedule. I would also like to thank my close friend and colleague Angelo Consoli for his advice on sections of the book dealing with the history of Green New Deal–style transitions in the European Union.
I would also like to thank my editor Tim Bartlett, who quickly embraced the project and moved mountains at St. Martin’s Press to spirit the book along its journey from conception to final copy. Tim’s sage editorial suggestions and edits helped smooth out the wrinkles and fine-tune the text. I would also like to express my appreciation to India Cooper for the excellent copy editing that is always essential to the publishing process. Thanks also to Dante Calfayan, Katherine Jossi, and John Marino for their research assistance.
To my literary agent, Meg Thompson, thank you! Her enthusiasm and wise counsel kept all of us on mission throughout the process. Thanks also to Sandy Hodgman, my foreign rights literary agent, for engaging our publishers in markets around the world.
Finally, my deep thanks to my wife, Carol Grunewald, for suggesting I write this book. Many of the themes in the book come from countless conversations over thirty years together that have shaped our common understanding of the world we inhabit and our hopes for the future of humanity and our fellow creatures with whom we share this Earth.