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VOLTAIRE'S BASTARDS -- THE DICTATORSHIP OF REASON IN THE WEST |
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Acknowledgments The writing of this book has gone on for over a decade and the list of people who have helped me is endless. What follows here is therefore incomplete. For that matter, some people may by now have forgotten giving advice or information. It goes without saying that in acknowledging help, I am not suggesting that anyone, from Maurice Strong on, agrees with what I have written. I'm simply thanking them. First, there is Adrienne, for her advice, patience, encouragement and love. Second, there is Adam Bellow, an extraordinary editor who has engaged in this long task with great imagination, care and consideration. Third, there are the friends who have read drafts, made comments and suggestions and been supportive. Erwin Glikes, Laura Roebuck, Robin Straus, Mike Shaw, Michael Levine, Cynthia Good, Michelle Lapautre, Diana Mackay" Kirsten Hanson, Wendy Law-Yone, Linda Spalding, Vivienne Moody, Emile Martel, Ursula Bender, Roberto Santachiara and Olga Villalba. Fourth; as someone virtually unable to write while sitting or lying at home, there are all the friends who have turned their houses into writing asylums. Bill and Cathy Graham in the Hockley Valley. Tim and Fran Lewis, as well as the, late Roy Whitehead and Hillie in Bangkok. Bill Glassco at Tadoussac. Emile and Nicole Martel in Paris. Norm Lofts and Lisa Wood on Lake Joseph. Sandy and Jane Crews on Arma Island, Lake Joseph. John and Sue Polanyi on Sashile, Georgian Bay. Elizabeth Gordon at Seldom Seen. And, of course, my friends at Eygalieres, who have put up with me wandering about distractedly. Fifth is the astonishing number of people -- some friends, some simply responding to requests -- who helped in specific areas, In the swamp of philosophy, religion and history, I was periodically dragged back onto solid Buddhist ground by Sulak Sivaraksa and Father Joe Maier in Bangkok, Professor Andrew Watson in Toronto on Islamic and Arabic questions, Professor Alain Pons in Paris on Vico and the Encyclopedistes, Father Edgar Bull, John McMurtry, Len Pennachetti, Henri Robillot, Professor Marjory Rogers, Professor William Rogers and Olivier Todd. On the Jesuits, Michael Coren, Andre Fournier, S. J., and Professor Michael Higgens. On Arthurian mythology, David Staines. On torture, Professor Edward Peters. On arms, the staff of the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London, Donald Agger in Washington and Anthony Sampson. On military questions, Professor Anthony Clayton at Sandhurst, Richard Gabriel, General Pierre Gallois, Sir Michael Howard, Jean Planchais and Professor John Polanyi, who was also a great help on the relationship between science and social responsibility. On cybernetics, Stephen Bingham. On financial and economic questions, David Mitchell in New York; Robert Rewald and Sarah Holden at the Federal Reserve Bank in Washington; Samuel Brittan, Roger Garside, Simon Lovett, M. D. Craig of the Bank of England, all in Britain; Jack Belford, John Grant, Jim Laxer, Professor Abraham Rotstein, Mary E. Webb in Canada; and Alain Vernholes of Le Monde in Paris. On government and administration, Romee de Bellescize, Georges Berthoin, Jean-Michel Gaillard, Charles Galtier, Richard Reeves and Glen Treverton. On legal questions, Michael Alexander, Maitre Denis Debost, professor William Graham, Q.C., Christopher Ives, and Martin Katz. On secrecy, Bernard Cade and Johannes Gottwald, both of whom dragged out wonderful material. On bullfighting, Luc Perrot and Aline Pelissier. On the image, Jean-Michel Beurdelay, Tim Clifford, Gerard Drouillet, Pierre Legue, Christopher Pratt, Mary Pratt, and Bernard Paul. On writing, Julien Gracq, the late Terence Kilmartin and Rene de Obaldia. The late Sir Angus Wilson and Tony Garrett volunteered themselves as a two-man provencal Encyclopedie on a whole range of subjects. And many other friends, including Diane de Bellescize, Bernard Bois, Guy Dupre, Mary Harrison, Odile Hellier, Phoebe Larmore, Bernard Kaplan, Bill McMurtry, Michael Ondaatje, Paulo and Marzia Perini, Jeremy Riley, Michael Robison, Sarah Thring, Martha Warnes and Julie Wadham, who, some time ago, before The Birds of Prey, helped me over the wall.
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