Acknowledgments

I have been inspired and supported throughout my career by Robert Saba, Harry Rosser, and Alexander Dunlop, who provide stringent critiques while remaining the best of friends. A more recent friend, but equally a source of inspiration, is Alec Hargreaves, who has helped me greatly through his encouragement and his knowledge of modern and contemporary France’s political and social history. Terri Johnson has been a tremendous asset in terms of research. Over the years she has managed to uncover both what I had been seeking and what I ought to have been seeking. I am very grateful to her. Wolfgang Adolph has been a calming presence during my too frequent computer crises; his knowledge in that area is vast, as is his ability to assure people like me that, even if a chapter has suddenly seemed to vanish into cyberspace, it is not really lost. Lindsey Scott has proven to be an outstanding proofreader and kindly critic regarding matters of content and form as well as a gifted indexer. Jean-Philippe Postel has been an excellent reader and proofreader, as well as a meticulous and inspired critic, particularly concerning my comments on French culture. Finally, I am deeply grateful to Chloé Johnson and Anthony Cond, both editors at Liverpool University Press who have shepherded me from start to finish through the process of writing this book.