Word: foreword
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...Wilson explains in his foreword, the book is primarily "aimed at describing how the British system of parliamentary and Cabinet government works, and identifying the essential differences in our system and presidential systems, such as that of the United States." In one telling anecdote, for example, he relates that in 1963 an American friend offered him $10,000 for his campaign to become leader of the Labor Party. He rejected it, explaining that the campaign would cost him virtually nothing; in fact, he recalls, he spent only eight old pence (about 90) for a couple of phone calls...
MYLES NA GOPALEEN (alias Flann O'Brien, born. Brian Nolan, self-Irished to Brian O'Nolan, Gaelicized by his publishers to Brian O'Nauallain) notes sadly in the foreword to the third edition of An Beal Bocht that few are still interested in preserving Gaelic tales and tradition, as proved by the fact that no one reads his book. Non-Gaelic-speaking Gaeligores (those enthusiastic about Irish language and literature) should be glad An Beal Bocht, first printed in Ireland in 1941, is finally available in an English translation true to the mocking wit of the original...
...biggest problem for contemporary readers and for those future historians Nixon was so concerned about is the handling of sources and documentation. While All the President's Men was devoted to this problem, The Final Days ignores it altogether. In an unfortunately cryptic foreword, the authors explain that The Final Days is based on interviews with 394 people. "Some persons spent dozens of hours with us and volunteered information freely; one person was interviewed seventeen times." They go on to say that "many supplied us with contemporaneous notes, memoranda, correspondence, logs, calendars, and diaries." So far, so good...
Another problem with this technique--and perhaps the moral of the story--is that the insiders who clearly did talk receive the kindest treatment. Again from the foreword: "If we obtained two versions [of anything], we resolved disagreements through re-interviewing. If this proved impossible, we left out any material we could not confirm." In effect, they have already made all the judgment about who was telling the truth and have thrown out whatever they couldn't get two people to tell them. I can imagine the following scenario: Fred Buzhardt, an insider's insider, hears that...
...duration of the war. For the first time since 1943 the museum is exhibiting Winthrop's entire collection of ancient Chinese jades. The exhibition seems to have been designed with Winthrop in mind and it reveals much about what he sought as a collector. Daniel Robbins, in the foreword to Max Loehr's completely illustrated, scholarly catalogue of the exhibition, remarks that Winthrop "believed in an artistic faculty essentially independent of time and place; he also felt that the making of beautiful and perfect objects utterly transcended their function in a strictly utilitarian sense as evidence...