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Acknowledgments T hank you, Charles Rowell, for telling me, when I retired, that I ought to write a book about it. Thank you, Deborah Williams, for reading that talky first draft and saying, “It needs more story.” Thank you, Trey Hammond, for reading a revised version of the first draft and finding things in it to praise; the echo of your voice saying “terrific” has kept me going. Thank you, Andrew Shimmin, for the Internet research that shored up my “I think” passages with facts. Thank you, Bonnie Shimmin, for giving the whole thing your intelligent reading and witty, right-ontarget comments not once, but twice, and for reminding me that irony is OK even in a title. Thank you, Ann Pittman, for sharing your long perspective on retirement from Texas A&M University. Thank you, Judith Keeling, for being so discerning a reader, so willing to see potential, and so able to help me make a book out of it. Thank you, Judy Alter, for the intelligence and enthusiasm with which you carried me through to the end. Most of all, thank you, Loren Lutes, for living it with me; for always, ever so gently questioning me; and for sometimes leading, sometimes pushing me down the road. ix ...

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