A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s

I

would like to express my sincere thanks to those who sacrificed
their time and energy to help me finish this book: Dominic
Head, Abigail Ward, David James, Sarah Davison, and Jayne
Poyner—I am forever in your debt! I would also like to thank my
wife and my mother for providing the support and comfort that were
ver y much needed at a nu mber of st a ge s in t he w rit ing proc e ss. T here
are also, of course, many acquaintances and colleagues who have
helped in innumerable other ways: Benjamin Bacon, Amarpreet Gil,
Sean Matthews, David Foster, Marshall Stauffer, and Ronan Kelly,
to name just a few. I would also like to thank my dedicated team
of editors and friends at Palgrave Macmillan, particularly Veronica
Goldstein, Rachel Krause, and Bradley Showalter, who were highly
supportive throughout. Finally, I would like to follow in the manner
of Edwin Black and acknowledge some of the musical influences that
have helped sustain my motivation and intellectual engagement: the
music of Black Merlin, Quiet Village, and Steve Reich were, in some
ways, indispensable tools in the production of this book.