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ix Acknowledgments I N T E R D I S C I PL I N A RY R E S E A R C H , L I K E travel in a foreign country, is unsettling. It challenges how we know the world and de-centers ways of thinking we take so for granted that we are not even conscious of them. It also can be exhilarating, especially when we recognize that much is shared across cultures and that we have the resources to live in, make sense of, and even contribute to our surroundings. In many instances, guidance from natives or locals can make the difference between a hazy encounter and an illuminating experience. For this book, I have been fortunate to be able to call on colleagues who “dwell” in biology, communication, English, history, philosophy, political science, psychology, public health, sociology, toxicology , and women’s and gender studies. I have had provocative conversations with nephrologists, otolaryngologists, and pediatricians. I have also talked with mothers and fathers who shared with me their infant-feeding stories. Every time I complete a project, I am mindful of the debt of gratitude I have incurred; this time, I feel more than a little awed by the breadth of expertise and experience from which I and this book have benefited. For critical feedback and moral support, my sincere thanks go to the members of my writing group: Ashley Currier, Marian Eide, Susan Egenolf, Kate Kelly, and Linda Radzik; to colleagues who also read articles and various chapter drafts: Judy Baer, Sherry Bame, Steve Ellingson, Lisa Ellis, Jan Leighley, Mary Ann O’Farrell, Jennifer Pashup, Stephanie Payne, Jim Rosenheim, Eric Rothenbuhler, Dave Toback, and Michelle TaylorRobinson ; and to those who took on the enormous task of reading the whole manuscript: Leah Devun, Marian Eide, Mike Kamrin, Kathy Miller, Katie See, Jane Sell, and Barbara Sharf. Special thanks to Gary Toback for an ongoing dialogue about medicine that, from its inception, helped me believe I could write this book; to Ron Kuppersmith and Scott Schams for their clinical observations and insight; to participants in the University of Chicago Social Theory Workshop and in conferences sponsored by the Social Science History Association and the Midwest Political Science Association ; to Kathy Anderson for superior copyediting (and for lodging x Acknowledgments and terrific company during my increasingly frequent visits to Chicago); and to Cristina Duke for first-rate research assistance. The research, writing, and publication of this book were made possible at Texas A&M University by the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, the College of Liberal Arts, and the Office of the Vice President for Research. Once the manuscript was with New York University Press, an anonymous reviewer provided compelling suggestions for revision. Linda Blum, Anna Kirkland , and my editor, Ilene Kalish, all assiduous critics, helped me clarify crucial points and turn a rather sprawling manuscript into a more focused and readable book. I am particularly grateful for their acuity. E. B. White once said that, “If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” The world compels us to make it better, but it is also filled with wonderful things. For me, music has been the most joyful and abiding presence. It is unlikely (and, in not a few cases, impossible) that any of those who have been an endless source of comfort and inspiration to me will ever read this book. Nonetheless, in the tradition of authors who thank their pets or local coffee shop, I would like to acknowledge a disparate group of musicians joined only by the fact that they contributed much of the soundtrack to the writing of this book: Patricia Barber, Leonard Bernstein, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Patty Griffin, Sharon Isbin, Gustav Mahler, Brad Mehldau, Cole Porter, Dianne Reeves, Virginia Rodrigues, Dmitri Shostakovich , Nina Simone, Jessica Williams, and Cassandra Wilson. I am especially grateful to friends and family who have supported me, in myriad ways, throughout the writing of this book: Donnalee Dox, Marian Eide, Lisa Ellis, Cherie Marcus, Jen Pashup, Katie See, the Toback family, and Allison Wolf. My heartfelt thanks to Rachel Baum for accompanying me over some very rugged terrain with fortitude, compassion, and (mercifully) humor. And finally, my deepest gratitude...

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