Open Fire: Understanding Global Gun Cultures

This project owes a great debt to the contributors to this book, who are responsible for whatever success it achieves. They responded with enthusiasm to my encouragement to think about and write about guns, some of them for the very first time. In particular, I am grateful to Frank Afflitto, for his efforts and sacrifices, and to C. Richard King, a loyal intellectual confidant who has talked guns with me for many years. Many other people have helped me along the way, and their assistance shall never be forgotten: Irv Epstein, Tom Lutze, Christina Isabelli, Rebecca Gearhart, Cade Cummins, Angie Glasker, Joshua Wagener, Patra Noona, Horacio Garcia-Servin, Alissa Hoffenberg, Jeff Sluka, Ilene Kalish, Students in my Anthropology 310 seminar, Myrdene Anderson, Dan Rose, Jean and Lyle Lockwood, Guy Tillim, and Tom Rosseel. I am grateful to the IWU Mellon Center for a generous support of an Artistic and Scholarly Development grant, and I wish to acknowledge the special assistance of the folks at IWU's Ames Library, including Tony Heaton, Kris Vogel, and Sue Stroyan. Leslie Coleman and Mallory Wendt kindly assisted in the preparation of the index. The folks at Berg were wonderful, especially Tristan Palmer, who proved to be a thoughtful and thought-provoking editor throughout. And finally, as always, with the writing and editing of this book, my debt to Jacob, Josua, and Cheryl Springwood—my beloved family—has deepened, my respect for them has grown, and my love for them has matured.

Charles Fruehling Springwood

-xi-