<p>word of thanks to those who helped coach and, sometimes, coax me. Theyinclude: Richard Reeves, Byron Dobell, Milton Glaser, Sheldon Zelaznick,Jack Nessel, Clay Felker, and Walter Bernard of the original New Yorkmagazine; Tom Morgan, Karen Durbin, Marianne Partridge, Alan Weitz,Judy Daniels and Jack Newfield of The Village Voice; William Shawn andWilliam Whitworth of The New Yorker; Warren Hoge, formerly of the NewYork Post; Mike O'Neill and Earl King of the New York Daily News; andJason Epstein, my editor at Random House. I might still be a high schooldropout were it not for Abe Lass, the caring former principal of AbrahamLincoln High School; and, most of all, a respectful and loving bow to Nettieand Paul Auletta, who taught by example. These collected pieces are unchanged except for a stray word here orthere, the excision of a superfluous sentence or paragraph that would de-mand needless amplification. No meanings or interpretations have beenaltered, including several that now seem silly. Postscripts have been ap-pended in the hope of raising questions about journalism in general, and myreporting in particular.</p>