In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

xi Acknowledgments My father taught me to read. My professor and friend Mark Perlman taught me what it was good for. His family has continued to look after me since his passing. I owe many debts, to these souls and others, that I am unlikely to repay but can at least acknowledge. The origins of this book can be traced to the Honors College of the University of Pittsburgh in the early 1990s, then led by its founding dean, Alec Stewart. He recruited teachers like Professor Perlman to give unique classes like his year-long discussion of the history of economic thought. In that course I found two things: the study of belief systems—grounded in what he called authorities—and a way of life that encompassed the older, better, traditions of scholarship and teaching. After many years of academic meanderings and Perlman’s patience I returned to Pittsburgh and discovered the field of political psychology as a means of studying the consequences of belief. There and at other universities I had the opportunity to study with several scholars who added to my thinking and to this volume, including Martin Greenberg and Dick Moreland in psychology, John Markoff in sociology, Gordon Mitchell in rhetoric, and Michael Goodhart in political theory, as well as Jon Krosnick and Tom Nelson in political psychology. I found the perfect dissertation advisor in David Barker, who believed in my work from the beginning and graciously tolerated my trespasses throughout. Without him I would have neither Ph.D. nor book, and for that and many other acts of kindness I owe him a great debt. Two other scholars served as both intellectual influences and personal examples. Bert Rockman, of Purdue University, is a gentleman as well as a xii g Acknowledgments scholar, who taught me to connect empirical observations to meaningful normative arguments. As his student, editorial assistant, and tennis victim, I have been thankful for his guidance and friendship. Phil Tetlock, of the University of Pennsylvania, is the source of much of my thinking about sacred values, and I have unashamedly stolen and extended his ideas into the realm of political rhetoric. Phil has been more generous with his time and insights than I had any reason to expect when I first sat his courses and realized the significance of absolute values. These two scholars represent what academia has been and should always be. The Earhart Foundation supported my dissertation research with two years of fellowships, without which this work could not have begun. Ingrid Gregg and Monty Brown deserve special thanks for their support. I was also the recipient of an Umberger Graduate Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, for which I am grateful. Several friends have played invaluable roles in this endeavor, including Jeff Condran, Sam DeCanio, Robert Holzbach, Glenn Kent, and Robert Peluso. For watching this unfold they deserve many sober thanks. I owe another great debt to the Williams clan, including Alix, Dan, Justin, David, Ken, and especially Abby. I would like to thank Bob Kraynak, Barry Shain, and Joe Wagner at Colgate University, where I completed my dissertation, as well as the good people of Hamilton, New York, foremost among them Meredith Leland, who knows a great deal about where commas should be. Also Frank Anechiarico and Rob Martin at Hamilton College, and John Maltese, Paul Gurian, and the faculty at the University of Georgia for providing a more than pleasant environment for the editing of the final manuscript. I am grateful to Martin Medhurst for taking an interest in the project, as well as Carey Newman and the editorial staff at Baylor University Press for their help in preparing the manuscript. Finally, I would like to thank the several students who read and discussed parts of the project and aided me with commentary and editing, including Will Burgess, Wells Ellenberg, Addie Hampton, Karli Hedstrom, Harrison Newman, Wes Robinson, and Kate Tummarello. Without such excellent students this entire endeavor would be pointless. ...

Share