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Acknowledgments
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Acknowledgments Working on translating, annotating, and introducing the early writings of Leo Strauss, I incurred a debt of gratitude to a number of individuals and institutions whom it is my pleasure to acknowledge. Kenneth Hart Green invited me to contribute this volume to the SUNY Series in the Jewish Thought ofLeo Strauss on the recommendation ofProfessor Marvin Fox, of blessed memory, who was Doktorvater to both ofus. Ken Green accompanied the growth ofthis book from the first draft ofthe translations to the completion of the manuscript with unwavering dedication and sustained commitment to the making of a first-rate edition. If the work comes even close to such a standard it is not in small measure due to the attention of the series editor to each aspect and every turn of phrase in the oeuvre ofLeo Strauss. The remaining shortcomings are, ofcourse, my own responsibility. As a non-native speaker ofEnglish, I repeatedly relied on the linguistic advice of my in-laws, veteran translators Abe and Sarah Shenitzer. Others also helped with problems of language, research, or content, among them most notably Laurence Berns, Aaron Garrett, Abigail Gillman, Tomas Kalmar, Deeana Klepper, Miriam Shenitzer, HartwigWiedebach, Matthias Wismann, and Martin Yaffe. My sincerest thanks to all. Thanks also to Professors Remi Brague and Stanley Rosen, who kindly read and commented on various drafts of this volume. Special mention must be made ofEugene Sheppard, who brought two hitherto unknown publications by Strauss to my attention and provided me with initial copies of the texts. Professor Sheppard has been a wellspring of infornution, an attentive and critical reader, and a delightful colleague. In 1998/99, the Humanities Foundation at Boston University, directed by Katherine T. O'Connor, kindly provided me with ajunior fellowship that XVII xviii Acknowledgments allowed me to return to my work on Strauss, which I had begun in 1994. Thanks to the fellows who provided important suggestions for improving the introduction to this volume, especially to John Clayton, James Schmidt, and Steven Scully. In the summer of 1999, when I enjoyed the privileges of the Martin Buber Visiting Professorship inJewish Philosophy ofReligion at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universitat in Frankfurt am Main, I discovered volumes 1 and 2 ofHeinrich and Wiebke Meier's edition ofLeo Strauss's early writings, along with Heinrich Meier's other contributions to the study ofLeo Strauss. Without what I learned from Meier, this work would not be what it is. For help with research I am indebted to the staffat Boston University's Mugar Library, to Frau Rachel Heuberger at the Stadtische und Universitatsbibliothek Frankfurt, toJim Rosenbloom and Dr. Charles Cutter at Brandeis University, and to the staff at the library of the Hochschule fur Jiidische Studien in Heidelberg. Finally, thanks to Joseph Cropsey, the literary executor of Leo Strauss, for the permission to make these early writings of Strauss available in this edition. ...