Gambling: Mapping the American Moral Landscape

Acknowledgments

vii Acknowledgments ♠ Early drafts of chapters in this volume were first presented at a conference entitled “Gambling and the American Moral Landscape,” held at Boston College in October 2007. After two years of planning, the conference coincidentally took place amidst a surge of public interest in the topic in Massachusetts, where the governor had recently proposed expanding the state’s legal gambling options to include three resort casinos. Documentary filmmakers from London, England and Richmond, Virginia filmed portions of the conference, and local media and political leaders took the opportunity to speak with the assembled experts. The conference was hosted by the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life (whose director and assistant director are this book’s editors), with generous financial assistance from the Smith Richardson Foundation. We therefore begin our thanks with special appreciation to Mark Steinmeyer, the foundation’s senior program officer for domestic public policy, for his support of this project. (For more information about the conference, please visit http://www.bc.edu/gambling, where you can download audio recordings of the presentations, view photos, and viii Acknowledgments catch up on gambling-related news. Information about the Boisi Center is available at http://www.bc.edu/boisi.) Of course we would not have a book of this caliber without the sterling work of its contributors. We thank them for the terrific chapters they offer here and for their energetic engagement at the conference that began this project. We are delighted to work with the talented and tireless staff at Baylor University Press, and we thank director Carey Newman, editor Casey Blaine and the rest of the editorial staff for sharing our enthusiasm about this project. Finally, we thank the staff and research assistants at the Boisi Center for their work on various aspects of this project. Susan Richard’s daily contributions have kept the Boisi Center running for the past nine years; Andrew Finstuen helped to draft the original project proposal; Suzanne Hevelone provided much-appreciated editorial assistance; Matthew Bagot, John Crowley-Buck, Hillary Thompson and Karen Teel provided important research and logistical support for the conference; Isabelle Martinez designed and maintained the conference Web site; and Joshua Darr provided extensive bibliographical support. We couldn’t have done it without you. Alan Wolfe and Erik Owens Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts July 2008 ...