Greg Anderson (who was especially helpful with Chapter 6), William O’Flaherty (who helped confirm the validity of my Lewis quotes) and Susan Beebe (editor extraordinaire) each offered invaluable comments, critiques, and encouragement after carefully reading drafts of the manuscript. Thank you for the countless ways you made this a better book.
Several Oxford friends offered support, ideas, encouragement and a listening ear as I’ve developed ideas for the book.
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• Walter Hooper, a dear friend and the pre-eminent C. S. Lewis scholar in the world, offered enthusiastic encouragement, ideas, support, suggestions, inspiration, loan of manuscripts, and Lewis handwriting expertise. Thank you, Walter, for being such an important friend and inspiration to me.
• Priscilla Tolkien, a good and wise friend, offered her support, insights, and much appreciated encouragement.
• Jacob Imam is a good friend and brilliant scholar who offered generous support for my work both in Oxford and during happy visits to Texas.
• Colin Duriez, an outstanding C. S. Lewis scholar, offered valued advice and encouragement.
• Jill and Peter Collett, and their talented daughters Clemi and Katie, are cherished friends I’ve known for more than a quarter of a century. They offered ongoing love, support and enthusiastic encouragement during many visits to our beloved Oxford.
I owe much to many C. S. Lewis scholars for their ideas, information, and meticulous scholarship that appear in endnotes in this book and helped shape many of the ideas presented. Special thanks go to the following scholars:
• Terry Lindvall and his excellent dissertation C. S. Lewis’ Theory of Communication was invaluable in helping me clarify my ideas about Lewis and communication.
• Greg Anderson provided friendship, joyful conversations, time in London hunting for Lewis first editions, and brilliant published scholarship about C. S. Lewis and rhetoric.
• Diana Pavlac Glyer provided support, encouragement, and outstanding scholarship that helped me solve a decades-old literary mystery. She is a role model for all Lewis scholars.
• The late Bruce Edwards offered his friendship, rich conversation, and outstanding published Lewis scholarship. I miss him and his enthusiastic support.
• Don King helped interpret Lewis’s handwriting, confirmed my discovery of C. S. Lewis poems, and offered much appreciated encouragement and support.
• Charlie Starr provided invaluable help in interpreting Lewis’s handwriting and offering support and encouragement.
• Andrew Lazo, who, in addition to carefully reading the manuscript, spent time with me in golden hours of friendship chasing after Lewis life details.
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• Jerry Root, who not only read the manuscript, provided copious notes, and wrote the masterful Foreword, but was transformational in helping me develop as a Lewis researcher. I will always be grateful for his enduring friendship, love, and presence in my life.
I thank my editor at Peter Lang, Erika Hendrix, for her support of this project, excellent suggestions, and skilled editorial guidance.
The staff at the University of Oxford Bodleian Library provided outstanding support and expertise. Specifically, I thank:
• Judith Priestman, librarian and curator of Lewis manuscripts and papers, provided professional support and encouragement. Her personal presentation of original Lewis manuscripts was always a highlight for me and my students who visited the Bodleian Library.
• Collin Harris, who provided a cheerful presence in the Modern Papers Reading Room, and who always offered words of encouragement and professional acumen.
Members of the Austin C. S. Lewis Society were kind, generous, patient, and encouraging as I participated in their monthly meetings for more than half a decade.
• Margaret and Johnny Humphreys were especially generous in providing the initial funds for a C. S. Lewis workshop that lead to the founding of the Austin C. S. Lewis Reading Group. Their friendship, and their son Paul’s taking my Oxford Lewis class, are treasured memories.
• Joel Heck and George Musacchio are outstanding Lewis scholars and educators who were like graduate faculty who patiently and skillfully helped me develop my ideas.
• Larry Linnenschmitd is a good friend and an avid Lewis reader, whose invitation to participate in a radio conversation on his program not only was fun, but also helped me develop my ideas about Lewis and communication.
Several dear friends offered excellent advice and encouragement just when I needed it:
• Mike Hennessey, a valued friend and eminent academic scholar and educator, proposed the title that you read on the cover of this book.
• Lancia Smith, who skillfully took my author photo, illuminates beauty with her gifts of friendship, wisdom, and encouragement.
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• Ron and Judy Brown are long-time cherished friends who offer love and encouragement and were members of the travel group that let me commandeer the tour bus, with the unforgettable help of our Irish-ballad-singing bus driver Kevin Clancy, to make an unplanned stop during our Belfast, Ireland, tour to see Lewis’s childhood home, “Little Lea.”
I thank the many students who have taken my C. S. Lewis course, both on the Texas State University campus and at Oxford University. Your enthusiasm, curiosity, and passion for learning about C. S. Lewis provided the perfect educational pasture that helped me irrigate my ideas. I especially thank my former Oxford C. S. Lewis student and beloved nephew Luke Adam Dye, dubbed “The Magician’s Nephew,” who read the manuscript and offers love and enthusiasm cheering on his uncle.
Several colleagues—no, friends—including Tom Willett, John Masterson, Thompson Biggers, Deborah Uecker, Richard Cheatham, Tim Mottet, Rick Gonzalez, John Fleming, Phil Salem, Cookie Salem, Lee Williams, Cathy Fleuriet, Sue Stewart, Marian Houser, Erik Timmerman, Maureen Keeley, Sue Hall, and Bob Hannah, offered much encouragement and support on this journey.
To my beloved family, wife Sue, son Matt, daughter-in-law Kara, granddaughter Mary, son Mark, and daughter-in-law Amanda: Thank you for the two C. S. Lewis games you invented that made my work more joyful. Game one: Taking bets as to what time of the day I will first mention C. S. Lewis. Game two: If a member of my family is within earshot and they hear me mention Lewis’s name, with just an ever-so-slight eye roll, they murmur “glug glug” and then mime taking a drink. Thank you for your abiding love, good humor, and unswerving support.
Finally, extra-special thanks go to my life editor-in-chief, frequent co-author, former college debate partner, fellow music-major-turned-communication major, personal grammar queen, life partner, and best friend, Sue. Sue was the last person who read the book before publication; her editing skills are simply the best I’ve encountered during the 50 years I’ve known her. Her “life music” is the soundtrack of my life. This book would not have been possible without her.
This book is part of the Peter Lang Media and Communication list.
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