ABSTRACT
We who come together in the writing of this book are similar only in superficial aspects. Crudely put, we are both white men of sufficient age and cultural capital to be university professors. As things go in this world that turns out to be a not insignificant degree of similarity. Yet, otherwise, we are astonishingly different. We were born ages as well as continents apart – the one in America, the other in Australia. Even more, the American still lives in the land of his birth, while the Australian lives and works in Britain. These are real differences that in an earlier time would have made the writing of a book together improbable if not impossible. Yet, as it turns out, thanks to the efficiencies of travel and electronic communications, it is neither strange nor especially difficult to join this work.
