ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

These are lean times for trade books on political subjects lacking headline appeal. Along with other independent scholars (our preferred self-description) we could not have researched our theme without funding. Our first debt therefore is to PublicAffairs and its founder, Peter Osnos, who at the genesis encouraged us to stake out our unfamiliar terrain. Having a prospective publisher, we sought grants to help cover costs. Three foundations made our travel and research possible: the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Gould Family Foundation and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. We owe special thanks at the Carnegie to President Vartan Gregorian and his colleagues Patricia Rosenfield and Stephen J. DelRosso; at the Gould to its board of trustees; and at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to Director Jon Sawyer and his associates Nathtalie Applewhite and Janeen Heath (who initiated us into the world of blogging).

As always, our researches were assisted by a pride of libraries and their staffs, notably the Butler and Lehman academic collections at Columbia University, and the New York Society Library, with its borrowable collection of rare nonfiction. In Connecticut, we owe thanks to the full-service Westport Public Library (which assisted us with interlibrary loans), and to its partners in Weston, Fairfield, and the Pequot Library in Southport.

Also important was the special assistance of the World Policy Institute, whose director, Michele Wucker; her associate Kate Maloff; and David Andelman, editor of the World Policy Journal, provided not only ideas but the assistance of these versatile interns: Eleanor Morgan Albert, Elizabeth Dovell, and Melissa Bardhi. It was our practice to tape all interviews, and then to check every quotation. This trio wrestled with various tongues and accents with admirable patience and efficiency. Seminars, conferences, and lectures at Columbia University, Barnard College, the World Policy Institute, the Carnegie Council of Ethics and International Affairs, New York University, and CUNY Graduate Center were fertile sources of ideas, as were the annual Wellfleet Conferences in Cape Cod, hosted by Robert and B. J. Lifton, where we learned much from Edwin and Patricia Matthews, Jim Skelly, Hillel Levine, and Charles Strozier (among others). Beyond this, we had the counsel of friends, among them Ted Smyth and Mary Breasted, Bruce Mazlish, Brian Urquhart, Michael Meyer and Suzanne Seggerman, Tadeusz Swi-etochowski, Colin Campbell and Deborah Scroggins, and Robert and Hannah Kaiser.

In all of our key destinations, we had the advice and assistance of “fixers” (journalistic argot for knowledgeable local assistants) and of friends, diplomats, and colleagues. In Flensburg, our way was opened by the German mission at the United Nations, with the help of the Bundestag veteran Karsten D. Voigt. In the city itself, our path was lit by Danish diplomats Henrik Becker-Christensen and Dr. Tove Malloy; Ewa Chylinski at the European Centre on Minority Issues; Anke Spoorendonk, the Danish representative in the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag; and her colleague Lars Erik Bethge, the party’s press spokesman.

In Kerala, three seasoned observers offered vital counsel: Barbara Crossette, former New York Times bureau chief in India; and authors Mira Kamdar in New York and Ramachandra Guha in Bangalore. Others who helped include Kerala’s Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, his assistants Praveen Ram and Jacob Joseph; Abraham George of the Shanti Bhavan Foundation; Alessandro Isola of the Global Exchange; and Suresh Kumar, who has long served as their cicerone and was our guru. Thanks also to Ajith Gopala Krishnan and our driver Prem Nidi. A special debt is owed to Roberto Toscano, then Italian ambassador to India, and his wife Francesca, for their counsel and hospitality in New Delhi. Those we met in Kerala are identified in the text.

In Tatarstan, our thanks first to Gulnara Khasanova, who helped us make our appointments, and to Vladimir Makarov, our local expe-ditor. Others who gave us essential advice and opened doors include Colette Shulman, Alsu Feiskhanova, Ravil and Irat Feiskhanov, and Rasik Sagitov of the World Organization of United Cities and Local Governments. Professor Uli Schamiloglu of the University of Wisconsin-Madison led us to Professor Kate Graney of Skidmore College. We had welcome help from Ildar Agish of the US Capitallinvet Bancorp. Our American mentors included Professor Seymour Becker and his Russian-born wife Alla Zeide; both encouraged the creation of the multilingual journal Ab Imperio, whose editors we met in Kazan (with special thanks to Marina Mogilner). Our visit to Naberezhnye Chelny and its branch of Kazan State University was facilitated by Eduard Nazmeev and Anatoly Makarov. We valued our meetings with Culture Minister Zila Valeeva; with Rozaliya Mirgalimovna Nurgaleeva, director of Tatarstan’s State Museum of Fine Arts; with Father Pitirim at the Bogoroditskii Monastery; and with Rafik M. Mukhametshin, rector of the Russian Islamic University. Our thanks also to Mariya Masyukova, the intern obtained through Columbia University’s Harriman Institute, who checked our Russian-language transcripts.

In France, we owe special thanks to Deputy Loïc Bouvard, the doyen of the National Assembly, and his wife Elisabeth, who helped us find our way in the labyrinth of French politics. (Bouvard and Meyer were graduate schoolmates at Princeton.) Not only did Steven Erlanger and Nadim Audi of The New York Times Paris bureau furnish advice, but Scott Sayre accompanied us on a key interview. Charles Onians of Agence France-Presse was our essential partner in visiting the opaque banlieues. In Marseille, our guide and tutor was Sebastian Carayol, a writer and authority on popular culture. We owe thanks to Alice Hodgson for introducing us to Grégoire Georges-Picot, author and filmmaker in Marseille and to Andrew Purvis, whose Smithsonian article pointed the way.

In Queens, our initial obligation is to Professors Roger Sanjek and Andrew Hacker, who opened the doors. Essential advice was provided by Susie Tanenbaum, Community and Cultural Coordinator for the Queens Borough President, who mapped the political byways of the world’s most diverse society. At the Elmhurst Hospital, we were assisted by Atiya N. Butler on the public relations staff. Authors and journalists who counseled us include Anne Barnard and Sam Roberts of The New York Times, James Michael Lisbon of The Queens Light, and Judith Sloan and Warren Lehrer. At the Queens Community House in Jackson Heights we obtained useful leads from K. C. Williams, the director of adult education, and her colleague Anna Dioguardia. Thanks also to Sgt. Lizbeth Villafane, commanding officer, New Immigrant Outreach Unit, New York Police Department.

In our Manhattan neighborhood, informal supplementary sources included Alex (of Rego Park) at the Solomon Barber Shop; the corner food store managed by Paul Sing, a Punjabi; the diverse staff at Simche Cleaners; our Bangladeshi fruit seller and Jordanian news agent; and our apartment building staff (Montenegrin, Croatian, and Hispanic) and finally, to several score taxi and bus drivers, shopkeepers, druggists, waiters, and clerks who put up with our questions.

In Australia, we were welcomed and instructed by our hosts, James and Valerie Levy; obtained insights from our old friends Neville and Evelyn Maxwell; and benefited from a lengthy conversation with James Jupp, a three-star authority on immigration policies. Regarding Canada, Director of Communications Alain Olivier at the Quebec Government Office in New York supplied valuable links.

Our text was efficiently shepherded into print at PublicAffairs by Brandon Proia and Lindsay Jones, and by Peter Osnos and Susan Weinberg. But the authors alone are responsible for any surviving errors of facts or misjudgments in the foregoing pages.

 

—Karl E. Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac