Читать книгу War and Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa - Ariel I. Ahram - Страница 6

There are, as always, too many people to thank. Louise Knight and Inès Boxman at Polity have been excellent stewards of the book since its inception. I benefited from the insights and critiques of my colleagues at the Virginia Tech School of Public and International Affairs, especially Joel Peters, Giselle Datz, Chad Levinson, Gerard Toal, and Mehrzad Boroujerdi. Bruce Pencek at the Virginia Tech library provided amazing support on issues of data collection and analysis. The Virginia Tech Statistical Application and Innovation Group helped with organizing quantitative data. I also received financial support from Virginia Tech’s Institute for Society, Culture, and the Environment. My work was inspired and informed by a number of inquisitive and tenacious graduate students, including Greg Kruczek, Gabi Mitchell, Nada al-Wadi, Jeanette Ruiz, Sezaneh Seymour, Joe Kushner, Joe Karle, Sayyed Ghanem, Mamoun Sulfab, and Pishtiwan Jalal. Crucial advice came from Boaz Atzili, Nadwa al-Dawsari, Stacey Philbrick Yadav, Mara Revkin, Nabil al-Tikriti, Raslan Ibrahim, Jonathan Wyrtzen, Lisa Anderson, Ellen Lust, Avishalom Rubin, Gabe Rubin, Jalel Harchaoui, Mohammad Tabaar, Marc Lynch, Kenneth Pollack, David Patel, Dan Byman, Steve Heydemann, Alexandra Stark, Daniel Neep, Sara Goodman, and Wendy Pearlman. Much of the writing of this book overlapped with my collaboration with Ranj Alaaldin on the Proxy Wars Project, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. From halfway around the globe, Ranj was an important sounding board for many of the ideas developed in this volume. I am grateful to Hillary Wiesner at Carnegie for her confidence and support. Rachel Templer assisted with editing. Hers were often the first pair of eyes to read the manuscript. I would never have begun – much less finished – this book if not for my fortuitous friendship with Paul D. Williams and our grim mutual interests.

Finally, I thank my family for their love and care. My mother, Judi, was a constant source of support. My wife, Marni, and daughters, Matilda and Leonie, all played a role they will never know. I hope, as always, that this book contributes to a good they can inherit.