Th ere are many people that I would like to acknowledge. Th is book was made possible with the generous support of a number of institutions — and more specifi cally the individuals that work in them: Judy Janec, Director of Library and Archives Holocaust Center of Northern California; Tina Minh, at the USC Shoah Foundation Institute; and Edyta Chowaniec, chief audio-visual archivist at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. Th ere are a couple of fi lmmakers that have been quite generous with me sharing their work, and providing me with supporting material. Elida Schogt generously (and very promptly) supplied me with reviews of her trilogy of fi lms — Silent Song (2001), The Walnut Tree (2000), and Zyklon Portrait (1999). Abraham Ravett — who made Everything’s For You (1989), and The March (1999) — was also very generous. Nina Koocher kindly provided me with a DVD of her 2007 fi lm How Much to Remember: One Family’s Conversation with History. Likewise, some of my fellow researchers have been quite generous as well. I would like to especially thank Joshua Hirsch. I would also like to thank Griselda Pollock and Max Silverman for inviting me to their seminar series, “Concentrationary Imaginaries: The Politics of Representation,” at the University of Leeds. Th is presentation was instrumental in developing the ideas found in exploitation and horror chapters in this book. Griselda, you continue to be an inspiration to me, and I only hope to be as productive and engaged as you are. I would also like to thank Francesco Ventrella for organizing my trip, and even helping to spring me from detention, aft er being detained by British Customs Agents at Gatwick. A number of my colleagues have also been instrumental in shaping the book — Julian Hoxter, Randy Rutsky, Tarek Elhaik, and Bill Nichols. Julian was especially helpful in bouncing ideas off of. I am deeply indebted to Chi-Hui Yang who read an early version of the book and helped to shape it. To my family: I thank you for your patience. Ariel, Daddy can come out to play now. “And now, let the wild rumpus start!”

The Americanist is the absorbing intellectual autobiography of Daniel Aaron, who is the leading proponent and practitioner of American Studies. Written with grace and wit, it skillfully blends Daniel Aaron’s personal story with the history of the field he has done so much to create. This is a first-rate book by a first-rate scholar.