Mistakes Were Made - Carol Tavris [116]
Afterword
We decided the order of authorship of this book by flipping a coin; it’s that balanced a collaboration. However, from start to finish, each of us has firmly believed that he or she was working with the more talented coauthor. So, to begin with, we want to thank each other for making this project one of mutual encouragement and learning—and fun.
Our book has benefited from careful, critical readings by colleagues who are specialists in the areas of memory, law, couples therapy, business, and clinical research and practice. We would especially like to thank the following colleagues for their close evaluation of chapters in their fields of expertise, and for the many excellent suggestions they gave us: Andrew Christensen, Deborah Davis, Gerald Davison, Maryanne Garry, Bruce Hay, Brad Heil, Richard Leo, Scott Lilienfeld, Elizabeth Loftus, Andrew McClurg, Devon Polachek, Leonore Tiefer, and Donald Saposnek. In addition, we appreciate the comments, ideas, stories, research, and other information offered by J. J. Cohn, Joseph de Rivera, Ralph Haber, Robert Kardon, Saul Kassin, Burt Nanus, Debra Poole, Anthony Pratkanis, Holly Stocking, and Michael Zagor. Our thanks also to Deborah Cady and Caryl McColly for their editorial help.
Our courtly agent and good friend Bob Lescher has been right there for us and with us from the first glimmer of a book proposal to the book’s launch into the world. Bob’s love of a good contract nearly matches his love of a good sentence, and we are grateful for his help with both. Moreover, Bob found our commissioning editor, Jane Isay, who has been a joy to work with. Jane has the grace, skill, and humor needed to let writers know what is wrong with their first drafts in a way that inspires us to revise—and revise, and revise—always bolstering our morale and helping us improve our prose. She is that rarity, a hands-on editor, and her stories and ideas infuse this book. We also thank our talented and supportive editor at Harcourt, Jenna Johnson, who shepherded our book from completion through production and beyond. Finally, we would like to thank managing editor David Hough, a man who loves everything about books (including authors), for making the production phase remarkably painless and educational, and Margaret Jones, for her exceptional skill in copyediting and fact checking.
Most of all, we give our thanks and love to our spouses, Ronan O’Casey and Vera Aronson. Mistakes were made by us in our lives, but not in our choice of a life partner.
—Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson
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Endnotes
Long before we became writers, we were readers. As readers, we often found notes an unwelcome intrusion in the flow of the story. It was usually a pain in the neck to be forever turning to the back of the book to learn what the author’s source was for some persuasive (or preposterous) idea or research finding, but every so often there was candy—a personal comment, an interesting digression, a good story. We enjoyed assembling these notes, using the opportunity to reference and sometimes expand the points we make in the chapters. And there’s some candy in here, too.
INTRODUCTION
Knaves, Fools, Villains, and Hypocrites:
How Do They Live with Themselves?
1 “Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat,” The New York Times, September 24, 2006; the comment to conservative columnists was reported by one of them, Max Boot, in “No Room for Doubt in the Oval Office,” the Los Angeles Times op-ed, September 20, 2006. For a detailed accounting of George Bush’s claims to the public regarding the war in Iraq, see Frank Rich (2006), The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina. New York: The Penguin Press. On May 25, 2006, with his ratings below 30 percent, Bush finally admitted that he had been wrong about something, sort of. Not about the war or any of the decisions related to it, but about his choice of words. When he used