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ix acknowledgments By now it seems we should have fully abandoned the image of a solitary author locked away in a dusty archive or library, scribbling (or typing) furiously and revising in solitude until a finished product emerges. Surely, we know better: research and writing are rarely solitary undertakings. This book is no exception. The journey to this point began at Hollins University under the careful direction of Peter Coogan, Andre Spies, Ruth Doan, and Joe Leedom. Forming a small but formidable department, they taught me about history, writing, and community, and they didn’t laugh when I said I wanted to be a historian (though they did warn me about graduate school and the job market). In a more immediate way, I must thank my Ph.D. adviser and mentor, Richard Kohn, for enthusiastic support during my graduate career, for a careful eye for detail and style, and for consistently pushing me to refine my arguments and explanations. Yaakov Ariel, Donald Mathews, Jerma Jackson, and Alex Roland likewise provided stimulating conversation about the project and indispensable critiques and suggestions. Three colleagues from Duke and UNC, Seth Dowland, Elesha Coffman, and Matt Harper, provided critical feedback, commiseration, and encouragement as our writing group transcended the Tobacco Road rivalry to read and comment on one another’s work. Further, colleagues in four research seminars read drafts carefully and thoughtfully and entertained my more than occasional ramblings on the connections between military and religious history. Laura Lumb, an outstanding undergraduate student at UNC, carefully transcribed two oral history interviews. My friend and colleague Maren Wood was an able and cheerful research assistant, as I could not travel to find some last critical sources. Others who I am lucky to call colleagues and friends, Robert Citino, Greg Daddis, Josiah Grover, Waitman Beorn, and Kevin Benish, each read all or parts of the manuscript at critical points when I needed an outside set of eyes to continue making progress on revisions . Anonymous reviewers for the University of North Carolina Press provided insightful critique and suggestions for revision. The editorial staff at UNC Press, especially David Perry, Mark Simpson-Vos, and Mary Caviness, deserve highest praise for their handling of the manuscript and publication process. The manuscript is immeasurably better because of their work. x | Acknowledgments Historical research and writing also does not happen without institutional and financial support. The Faherty Fund for research in military history and the Mowry Grant at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill provided critical funds for research and travel. The United States Army Center of Military History provided a generous writing grant, which enabled me to finish the first draft of the manuscript. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the historians and librarians at the Army Chaplain School and Center at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, especially historian John Brinsfield and librarian Donna Dellinger. They graciously provided access to documents , work space, and thought-provoking conversations about my project . After I completed graduate school, the United States Military Academy at West Point and the Air War College in Montgomery, Alabama, provided me intellectual and physical spaces in which to refine my arguments and continue work on the manuscript. It may go without saying, but this project would have been impossible without the chaplains who are the subjects of the book. For their experiences , writings, survey responses, reports, and reflections, I have utmost respect. Many of them also helped in a direct way: their generous correspondence and willingness to send information and out-of-print books was invaluable. Special thanks are due to James Johnson, Jackson Day, and Joseph Beasley, who generously agreed to be interviewed. My UNC Writing Center friends and colleagues bridged the gap between those who commented and read my work and those who kept me sane in the process. The Writing Center was a supportive and friendly environment , and working there made me a more critical reader and a more careful writer. To my AMUN family—the family I choose—thanks for sticking with me as this project came into being, hit some rocky spots, and was finally finished. Miraculously, you all managed to figure out when to ask how it was going and when to stay quiet, and provided me with plenty of other-than-manuscript projects to make me feel accomplished when progress on the book seemed to stall out. Finally, the family I was lucky enough to be born into deserves my sincerest gratitude and humble thanks. To Alta and...

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