Acknowledgements
Working on this book has been for many reasons a very rewarding experience, for which I am grateful to Marcel Danesi, series editor of Brill Research Perspectives in Popular Culture, who first shared with me his plan for the further development of the series and encouraged me to undertake the project. At Brill, I owe a debt of gratitude to Jason Prevost, Senior Acquisitions Editor for Social Sciences and International Relations, for his strong support of the project, and to Associate Editor Katie Short for her support and generous assistance throughout the process. I am also grateful to their production staff, especially Dinah Rapliza, for her care and expertise. I record with pleasure my gratitude to Brill’s anonymous reviewers for their careful reading of the manuscript and their thoughtful comments.
Gratitude of an entirely different order is due to my wife, Laura Pietropaolo, my constant companion and dialogue partner on this and other projects. I am grateful to her for her support and understanding, for her readiness to put my needs ahead of hers throughout my writing of the book, for her sharp criticism, and for her contribution to the development of my ideas.