ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

How does one begin to thank people for nearly ten years of one's life? From the moment that I began work on my historical study of the Paris suburbs as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, I have benefited from the aid of many friends and colleagues. Without their contributions this book would probably never have seen the light of day or would at least have been significantly inferior. Although I could not acknowledge the contributions in detail, I would like to recognize the people who most helped to make this book a success. They should feel entitled to share the credit for its merits; its defects remain the responsibility of the author alone.

Funding for this book has been generously provided by numerous sources. The Chancellor's Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship Program of the University of California at Berkeley not only gave me the rare opportunity to revise my dissertation for two years without teaching but also funded two brief research trips to Paris. Its work on behalf of minority scholars continues to be pathbreaking and important. The College of the Humanities of Ohio State University paid for the maps in this book, and the Division of the Humanities of the University of California at Santa Cruz funded the index.

Credit for valuable suggestions goes to many people in many different places. In Madison, Edward Gargan, Steve Stern, Ron Aminzade, Stanley Schultz, Robert Frost, Scott Haine, and David Wright read all or part of the original dissertation and indicated where it could be strengthened. While at Berkeley I received useful advice on revising the manuscript from Lynn Hunt, Mark Traugott, Ted Margadant, Jo B. Margadant, Herrick Chapman, Karen Offen, Dena Goodman, Margie

Beale, Suzanne Desan, Earl Lewis, Joshua Cole, Sarah Farmer, Paul Rabinow, and John Merriman.

I owe thanks to friends and colleagues on the other side of the Atlantic. Jacques Girault and Annie Fourcaut were both welcoming and willing to share with me their work on the history of Bobigny and the suburbs of Paris. I would like to acknowledge the important assistance I received from the staffs of the Bobigny Municipal Archives, above all Colette Portillon; the Archives de la Seine; the Archives of the Department of the Seine—Saint-Denis; the Archives of the Prefecture of Police; the Archives Nationales; and the Bibliothèque Nationale. My good friends Jean and Melvin McNair, Jim Cohen, Michael Liebman, Paula May, Elisabeth Altschull, and François Gaudu did all they could to make my stays in Paris both profitable and enjoyable.

Thanks for technical assistance in preparing this book are due to David Smith, Carol Seiden, and the staff of the Alcohol Research Group in Berkeley, and to Dan Wenger of the University of California, Santa Cruz. Yvonne Holsinger of Ohio State prepared the maps. Thanks also to the Journal of Social History and the Journal of Contemporary History for allowing me to include material from previously published articles.

Three people in particular deserve special mention and acknowledgment for their contributions to this book. My wife, Denise Herd, provided not only much needed emotional support but also new ways of looking at old intellectual problems. In spite of the pressing demands of her career, she has always been ready to lend a sympathetic yet critical ear. Susanna Barrows served as my mentor during my postdoctoral fellowship at Berkeley, but her real contribution exceeded that official role. Susanna read two drafts of this manuscript and gave me endless good advice, the insights and inspiration of a brilliant intellect, great food, and constant encouragement.

Finally and most important, I owe a profound intellectual debt to my mentor, friend, and graduate advisor, the late Professor Harvey Goldberg at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Harvey suggested that I write about Bobigny and saw the dissertation through completion, but I owe him much more than that. Harvey Goldberg was a paragon who combined first-rate scholarship, an unexcelled ability to make history come alive in the classroom, and a passionate, adamant commitment to the struggle for social justice that inspired me. He helped make Madison a special place and set me an example I shall never forget. I miss Harvey, I cherish his memory, and it is to him that I dedicate this book.