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It is a pleasure to thank the instructors who read and critiqued the manuscript through its development:

Robert Blackey, California State University, San Bernardino

Kevin Caldwell, Blue Ridge Community College

Amy Colon, SUNY Sullivan

Maia Conrad, Thomas Nelson Community College

Scott Gavorsky, Great Basin College

George Kaloudis, Rivier College

Roy Koepp, University of Nebraska at Kearney

Jesse Lynch, Shasta College

Michael McKeown, Daytona State College

Jennifer Morris, Mount St. Joseph University

Mark Rubino, Central Bucks East High School

Stephen Santelli, Northern Virginia Community College

Brett Sommer, North Tonawanda High School

Calvin Tesler, Lehigh University

Doris Tishkoff, Quinnipiac University

Jack Travers, Boston College High School

Many of our colleagues at the University of Illinois, the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and Georgia State University continue to provide information and stimulation, often without even knowing it. We thank them for it. We also thank the many students over the years with whom we have used earlier editions of this book. Their reactions and opinions helped shape the revisions to this edition, and we hope it remains worthy of the ultimate praise that they bestowed on it: that it’s “not boring like most textbooks.” Merry Wiesner-Hanks would, as always, also like to thank her husband, Neil, without whom work on this project would not be possible. Clare Haru Crowston thanks her husband, Ali, and her children, Lili, Reza, and Kian, who are a joyous reminder of the vitality of life that we try to showcase in this book. Joe Perry thanks his colleagues and students at Georgia State for their intellectual stimulation and is grateful to Joyce de Vries for her unstinting support and encouragement.

Each of us has benefited from the criticism of our coauthors, although each of us assumes responsibility for what he or she has written. Merry Wiesner-Hanks intensively reworked John Buckler’s Chapters 1–6 and revised Chapters 7–13; Clare Crowston wrote and revised Chapters 14–19 and took responsibility for John McKay’s Chapter 20; and Joe Perry took responsibility for John McKay’s Chapters 21–24 and wrote and revised Chapters 25–30.

We’d especially like to thank the founding authors, John P. McKay, Bennett D. Hill, and John Buckler, for their enduring contributions and for their faith in each of us to carry on their legacy.