ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In 1995, the two authors met in Jerusalem. They quickly realized that despite their differences in age, background, and experience, when it came to freedom, they spoke the same language. They have worked together during the past nine years on dozens of articles and essays, many of which focus on the themes developed in this book.

The ideas and principles presented in these pages are those Natan has championed and lived by for three decades. Ron’s efforts are directed at deconstructing these ideas and principles in order to make them explicable to those for whom they are not self-evident. Hopefully, the sum of their efforts has proven better than its parts.

Facilitating this joint effort were many who deserve special mention. Marvin Josephson and Peter Osnos believed in this project from the very beginning. Marvin, Natan’s friend and the literary agent for his prison memoir, Fear No Evil, maintained for years that Natan’s experience after the Gulag was no less worthy of a book. Peter, the publisher of PublicAffairs and Natan’s partner-in-crime in Moscow where the former was a correspondent for the Washington Post, was always confident that this book could and should be given a fair hearing by all sides of the political debate. He embraced the project and was a constant source of encouragement. Clive Priddle, the book’s editor, used his professionalism, intelligence and good humor to force the authors to clarify their arguments and make their case as coherent and concise as possible.

Rachel Freidman, our researcher, was a rare find. She thoroughly examined the author’s inquiries, pointing them in directions they had not even considered and strengthening their overall argument. Her editorial suggestions were also particularly insightful. Lidia Voronin, a former Soviet dissident and comrade-in-arms who works in Washington, helped with the research as well.

Ari Weiss, Natan’s longtime friend and confidante, Roman Polanski, Natan’s colleague and close adviser, and Neil Kozodoy, the editor of Commentary magazine and a good friend, all slogged through the entire manuscript. Their incisive comments were as unique as the people who made them. Thanks are also due to Bill Novak, Vera Golovensky, Dore Gold, and Daniel Polisar.

Above all, the authors are indebted to their families. Mayor Jay Dermer showed patience well beyond his months, keeping his sitting, crawling, and walking in his father’s study to an absolute minimum and flashing his adorable dimpled smile without fail. Rhoda Pagano Dermer read the manuscript in all its stages, acting at times as a sounding board, at others as an editor and occasionally as a computer technician. Her questions, comments, and criticism were always constructive and greatly enhanced the quality of the book. No less important, she also graciously allowed the authors to use her home at all hours of the day and night, proving to be as good a hostess as she is a wife and mother.

When Natan wrote his prison memoir, Rachel was in diapers and Hanna was not yet born. With the world of fear behind him, a quiet life in Israel for his new family seemed in the offing. But it was not to be. Yet Natan has been blessed by a family who selflessly accommodates their father’s public and political life and still make him feel like a stay-at-home dad.

During the writing of this book, seventeen-year-old Rachel coincidentally wrote her high school thesis comparing the political systems of ancient Athens and Rome. The fascinating discussions on democracy triggered by her thesis helped give her father a bit of historical perspective. At the same time, fifteen-year-old Hanna became a counselor in a youth movement and displayed in the months when this book was written as much tolerance, indulgence, and humor toward her father as she did toward her young scouts.

But it was Avital Sharansky who reminded Natan once again that while striving to promote freedom around the world, freedom, as well as happiness, begins first and foremost with love and support at home.