My interest in Brittany began half a lifetime ago, during a trip around Europe with one of my college roommates, Gregg Hillman. Gregg's aunt and uncle, Lorraine and Georges de Braux, lived in Nevez and graciously put us up for a few days. Georges, though a Norman, had an infectious enthusiasm for his adopted pays. So began my attraction to this strange and somewhat gloomy peninsula, whose people often reminded me of the Irish-American ghosts of my childhood.

One tradition Bretons share with the Irish is that of hospitality. My family and I have received many kindnesses from Bretons in every corner of the province. My greatest debt, both personal and professional, is to Jean Tanguy and his family. Jean has been the most generous of mentors and he and Marie-Claire have sheltered a wandering American historian more times than I dare to admit. No words can express my appreciation to them.

In any long project one builds up a mountain of obligations; indeed, one of the most sobering of deeds is to write a preface because it reminds the often solitary researcher how tied even he is to countless others. Some of those ties are personal, to people who have stood by you in difficult times. My oldest friend, Will Rogers, and his wife Edna, fall into that category, not only for harboring a penniless graduate student during his first month at Columbia, but for a lifetime of joyful memories. Other ties are both personal and professional, such as those to colleagues like Bob Weiner and Don Miller at Lafayette College or Marcus Rediker and Andrzej Kaminski at Georgetown.