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Acknowledgments If it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes one to write a book. I have been blessed with a warm and generous village of family, friends, mentors , and colleagues who have helped me to do both over the last few years. My deepest debt of gratitude is to my father and mother-John and Carol Lee Veitch-who taught me the things that matter most in life and embodied them with grace and style. Their extraordinary love has provided my sister, Jonna, and me with the foundation that has enabled us both to lead happy and productive lives. I also wish to thank Al and Barbara Gelpi, who encouraged my intellectual ambitions, first as mentors at Stanford and later as dear friends. Other friends and family have also lent me their support: John and Jonna Carls, Kathy L~mour, Kevin Goodman, Keith Bloom, Jeff Stockwell, Chet Olsen, Anthony Grumbach, and Doug Sortino. Not only did they insist that I tell them what I was working on, they listened intently to the answer (or at least they acted as if they did) and affirmed its worth. Sacvan Bercovitch first suggested to me that I write a book on Nathanael West and the 1930s, and he has remained unfailingly supportive throughout its gestation. From the beginning I have tried to hold his high standard of critical excellence before me as both a model and a source of inspiration. Several others were willing to look over portions of the manuscript at various stages of undress, and they were kind enough to do so without blushing: among them, Leo Marx, Werner Sollors, and Daniel Aaron. Helen Vendler has been particularly generous with her time, giving me both advice and enouragement when I most needed it. Dickran Tashjian and Miles Orvell served as readers for the University of Wisconsin Press. Their encouraging response and helpful commentary not only improved the manuscript, they also breathed new life into its tired author. I am grateful to all of them. No project of this sort can come to fruition without an Immense IX x Acknowledgments amount of institutional patronage. I am indebted to David Donald and the American Civilization program at Harvard University, the Whiting Foundation , the Huntington Library, and the University of Wisconsin in Madison for grants that enabled me to complete my work. At Madison I have been fortunate enough to enjoy the company of an exceptional group of colleagues: Joe Wiesenfarth, Tom Schaub, Eric Rothstein, Gordon Hutner , Dale Bauer, Lynn Keller, Don Rowe, Sarah Zimmerman, and most of all, Heather Dubrow. They have remained steadfast in their support despite the considerable demands I sometimes made on them. I have received far more from them, the department, and the university than I shall be able to repay. Finally, I wish to thank Lenore and Peter Mott, who frequently interrupted their own busy professional lives to help me with mine. They graciously (and eagerly) consented to take care of Margaret and Alexander so their father could, as Margaret explains it, "do his homework." Last but not least, there is one person for whom thank you is simply not enough. That is my wife, Sarah. More than anyone else, she has been my partner in this arduous process: listening to my ideas, encouraging me when I doubted their merits, always giving me just the right advice. On more than one occasion, Sarah has encouraged her moody husband to "be breezy." Now that I am finished with my homework, perhaps I can. I confess that I have spent far too many late nights at the computer when I should have been curled up beside her. ...

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