Heartfelt thanks to:
Andrew Davies, for a grand act of help quite literally incredible (by which I mean that the few people who know of it find it extremely hard to believe); John Holme, Tim Walton and Richard Percival for proving that in time of trouble, old friendships are priceless; Philip Pullman, for much encouraging warmth and practical support; Nick Cohen, for passing his intellectual mine detector over the most dangerous chapter; James Meek, for straight-talking advice on narrative structure; Dr Peter Thompson (Sheffield University) and Prof. Karen Leeder (New College, Oxford), for countless debates and acts of hospitality; Prof. Stefan Szymanski (University of Michigan) for suggesting the chapter on sport; Elke Bechthold, for material from her unpublished thesis; Dr Matt Fitzpatrick (Flinders University), for a discussion of Australian Germanophobia; Karl von Oppen, for conversations at his dinner table about Bismarck; lastly but firstly, my mother, Mrs Janet Hawes née Fry, who (apart from everything else) can read nineteenth-century German letters which entirely defeat me.
The following institutions, and the people named within them, have all provided help well beyond what might reasonably have been expected: Oxford Brookes University, and in particular Dr Simon Kövesi, and Prof. Anne-Marie Kilday for the sabbatical and funding; the Bonn City Museum, and in particular Dr Ingrid Bodsch, for all the time and help given to someone who approached them without introduction in pursuit of a case unknown to them; the University of Heidelberg Library, and in particular Anna Vollner, for so very kindly providing the illustrations from Kladderadatsch and Der Wahre Jacob; Simplicissimus.com, and in particular Dr Hans Zimmermann, for doing the same with that wonderful material; the staff of the Secret State Archive (GStA PK), Berlin for guidance through their labyrinth; the staff of the SCOLAR rare books collection at Cardiff University; and for many kindnesses, the librarians of Balliol, Worcester and Hertford Colleges, Oxford.
At Simon & Schuster, Colin Midson and Mike Jones had the bravery to commission this book on a rather scanty pitch, and Mike the patience to see it through; Jo Whitford coped remarkably with a horribly complex task and Juliana Foster saved me from many dreadful solecisms. My agent, Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein, was a rock throughout.