Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets

Acknowledgments

Writing a book is hard enough. Writing a book with someone else is even harder. And it ought not to be possible at all when one of the authors is running a multimillion‐dollar publishing business from London and Paris and the other is wandering the globe with her laptop.

As it turned out, it was not only possible but a lot of fun. Despite time zones often a day apart, treacherous Net connections, and plenty of friendly tussling over everything from financial flows in India to Latin American politicians, we found enough common ground to write a book that takes on the “public spectacle” in politics and the market today. Ours is the home inspector's report on the wormy wreck of government policies and prescriptions that experts and ideologues are selling us.

The book is put together from joint and individual writing we did over the past year or two. Some of it has appeared online; some has not. John Mauldin speaks for many fans in calling Bill the best pure writer in the financial business. In some sections—such as the ones on finance—it's more of Bill; in others—such as the ones on globalization and propaganda—it's more of Lila. Everywhere else, we are equally culpable.

As with any book, there are people whose help we want to acknowledge. On Bill's side, there was Claire Lamotte from the Agora office in Paris, who helped with proofing. On Lila's end, as always, she owes everything to her parents, Adolf and Sylvia Walter, and to her brothers, Noel and David, for their ...