My thanks to: Doug Bennett, who got me into Penton_ville-and out again-in the same day and later furnished me with his insights on prisons and the prison service; to Jim Burr, for his mind’s eye tour of White Deer, Texas, and for the New York adventures; to Ros Stanwell-_Smith, for her enthusiastic detailing of plagues and how to start them; and to Barbara Boote, my tireless editor, whose enthusiasm has proved the best possible spur to invention.
