Acknowledgments

The satisfaction of getting this little book into public circulation has been deepened by the venue in which it now appears: a relaunched of the innovative pamphlet series founded years ago by my great colleague and dear friend, Marshall Sahlins, who figures prominently in this book’s origins. But still more rewarding has been the experience of publishing it with his son, Peter Sahlins, whose energetic and expert contributions to whatever is good in it long ago went well beyond mere “editing.” His interest in the project has been intellectual, political, personal, and most welcome. I thank him wholeheartedly for investments of many kinds and conversations in many places. Valuable critical input came from many other quarters as well, often (I’m embarrassed to recall) after I would insist on reading a portion aloud in company as part of my effort to get the tone right. The incomplete roster includes Clara Badonsky (who also took on some copyediting), Carol Chandler, Kevin Chandler, Claire Connolly, Ian Duncan, Jeannie Essling, Ally Field, Colin Jones, Jo McDonagh, Phil Lewis, Dan Morgan, Ramona Nadaff, Paul O’Donovan, Don Randel, Joel Roszell, Kathleen Roszell, Jonathan Sachs, Laurie Shannon, Vincent Sherry, Eric Slauter, Jim Sparrow, Garrett Stewart, Joe Tomain, Domietta Torlasco, Cindy Wall, and Clair Wills. It was Bill Brown who read and shrewdly improved these pages from their beginnings in two pieces published last year in the Los Angeles Review of Books (“A Total Assault on the University,” May 7, 2025; “A Trumped-up Spectacle,” July 9, 2025). He also generously urged me to “to turn them into a small book.” But it was my daughter, Catherine Chandler, who first challenged me to try to respond to the crisis unfolding early last year: “What are you yourself planning to do in the face of all this?” She has allowed writing to count as a form of doing, and helpfully counseled straightforwardness in executing it. Her brother, Michael, and his wife, Eleni Chandler Towns, have had their hands full with demanding public service jobs and two small children, but they have weighed in with timely advice and admonitions along the way, and I hope they forgive me for not heeding one of their warnings. My wife, Elizabeth O’Connor Chandler, read and listened to more of this than she should have had to, including parts that have since been discarded on her wise urging. No one has been more demanding about what this little project should be and do than my forever mentor Jerome McGann, who wrongly claims I never listen to him. Jerome’s capacity to undertake both rigorous scholarship and engaged politics led Marshall to recruit him years ago for a pamphlet entitled “Are the Humanities Inconsequent?” This one is dedicated to him.