ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

President John F. Kennedy quipped after the Bay of Pigs fiasco that “victory has 100 fathers and defeat is an orphan.” If this book meets with somewhat more success than that operation, then it is testimony to all of its “parents.” I am pleased to be able to acknowledge the help that they have given me over the course of the five years during which I wrote this book.

David F. Schmitz read nearly every word of the manuscript of this book in draft form and made extensive comments. I cannot overstate my debt of gratitude to him. Authors often say that their book would have been better if they had taken all of their colleagues’ suggestions. In this case, this book is better because I have taken all of David’s suggestions. The Reverend Wilson D. Miscamble, CSC, provided me with his invariably sagacious guidance on too many matters to detail here, and helped keep me focused on the end result. Thomas A. Schwartz was an early and consistent enthusiast for this project, and was always ready with helpful advice. David, Bill, and Tom are true friends.

My editor at Cornell University Press, Michael McGandy, has been everything that an author could hope for: insightful, frank, and meticulous. A fellow early riser, Michael may be the only editor who responds in real time to emails sent at 5:00 a.m. I am deeply indebted to him. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the readers whom Michael lined up to review earlier drafts of the manuscript. Robert E. May and the anonymous second reader were of inestimable assistance in improving this book. Having reviewed manuscripts, I know that this is often viewed as a “thankless” task. That is not, strictly speaking, literally true in this case: these scholars do indeed have my sincere thanks.

The research for Chained to History was necessarily polyglot, and I am no great linguist. Fortunately for me, my dear friend Maureen G. Dawson, Donald LaSalle, and Erin Moira Lemrow were always available to provide guidance on my translations of obscure two-hundred-year-old French words and phrases. Leonor Wangensteen provided similar guidance with “out-of-date” Spanish. And I am indebted to my friend and George Washington University colleague Muriel Atkin for allowing me to run mid-nineteenth-century Russian obscurities by her in the departmental lunchroom. I wish her all the best in her well-earned retirement, but I will miss our lunches. Michael Douma of Georgetown University generously shared his transcriptions and translations of Dutch governmental documents with me, for which I am tremendously grateful. None of these scholars, however, bears responsibility for any errors in translation; these are mine alone.

On the personal front, my sister Eileen Schopen and her family have provided me with constant support over the course of the years. Thank you Eileen, Keith, Drew, Tom, Hannah, and Jenna. Our parents died when we were still young, and never knew about my academic endeavors. But I suspect that Ward and Marie Alice Brady would have been proud to hold this book in their hands. Mom and Dad never gave me brothers, so I had to find them for myself. Marc Dubey, Michael Knock, and Sidney Stein have been a source of incredible support and encouragement. I am truly fortunate to call them friends. Since they are all far away from Washington, I am indeed blessed to have Julius Blackwell and Robert Scott here in loco fratres. Duane Jundt has been a friend since the start of my days in graduate school. I would have ended my studies early, after a family tragedy, had he not convinced me to continue. Kathy Hardman kept me going during the “Mar-Main days” with her love of books and tolerance of eccentricities. Dan Berger has been my close friend longer than anyone else, which shows good judgment on both of our parts. In South Bend, Indiana, I especially valued the friendship of John Deak and Dan Graff. I still do. I have valued the friendship of Jeanne Petit and Anita Specht since grad school. Thank you, my friends.

Friends and colleagues in the Department of History at the George Washington University (GW) deserve special thanks. I never imagined that any academic department could be so collegial. Thanks go especially to Denver Brunsman, who befriended me early on, and who gave me feedback and encouragement on the early chapters of this book. In addition to his valued friendship, I owe Trevor Jackson thanks for suggesting this book’s subtitle. Abigail Agresta has been the best “next door neighbor” that one could ask for. And she never complains when I play Beethoven much louder than is fitting for a man my age. The late Leo Ribuffo made my transition to GW go more smoothly than it otherwise could have. I valued his advice on matters great and small. Put simply, I miss him. Perhaps the department would survive without Michael Weeks and Sam Nohra, but I would not want to be there to clean up the mess. I am pleased to be able to thank Thomas Long for both his mentorship and his friendship. Finally, my students have been, over the years, one of my greatest sources of inspiration.

Every day of my life, I am thankful for my children, William, Matthew, and Lydia Grace.

I owe my greatest debt to my partner in life; Monica has been research assistant, librarian, cheerleader, and therapist as I have worked on this project, and she has been so much more. Words fail me. It is to her that this book is dedicated. After five years, she can finally say “Es ist für mich!”