Acknowledgments

This book came about because Ben Loehnen of Avid Reader Press, the only person I knew in publishing, listened to my poorly formed pitch and immediately spotted its potential. As a first-time author, I’m deeply grateful to Ben for giving me a chance. Thanks to the team at Avid Reader and Simon & Schuster, including Carolyn Kelly, Janet McDonald, and Amy Medeiros, who polished my work and gave physical and digital form to my words. Thanks also to my agent Dan Mandel, who translated the mysteries of the book business.

Special thanks to Carolyn Ryan, Ellen Pollock, and Rich Barbieri at The New York Times, who graciously gave me the time and space to report and write. I am indebted to my Times colleagues, in particular Matthew Goldstein, Steve Eder, and Emily Flitter, without whose reporting and generosity this would have been a poorer work. Thanks also to my team for their patience as I periodically disappeared to work on this book, and to those who picked up the slack.

I owe a big debt of gratitude to the people who spoke to me for this book, including many whose names I have withheld upon their request, and the dozens of authors, journalists, and academics who documented so much of the history that I have relied upon to build the narrative.

Thanks to my author friends and colleagues, and to those in the broader media industry, for sharing their knowledge about the book publishing process and offering me valuable advice.

Thanks to Craig Karmin, without whose partnership at The Wall Street Journal the first stories about Bill Gates would never have been written, and for the discussions—over negronis—about ideas that became this book.

Thanks to Dennis K. Berman, who provided thoughtful feedback on my unpolished manuscript and pushed me to refine my arguments.

I am grateful for Jui Chakravorty, my confidante and counsel, and for my dear friends Lilla Zuill, Karen Cheung, and Taryn Luciani—strong, accomplished women whose unstinting support and cheerleading helped me recover from multiple bouts of self-doubt. Special thanks to Rachel Slade, my brilliant author friend, whose insights into the premise of this book made it clearer and richer, and whose hand-holding throughout the writing process was invaluable.

Thanks to the family I hold close: Mom and Dad, for the roots to ground me and the wings to fly; and my brother Dev, sister-in-law Rachel, and my nephews Daniel and Declan for warmth, safety, and unconditional love.

And finally, thanks to Alex Orozco, for being there from the beginning, for knowing when to push and when to listen, for leavening the tough moments with humor, and for always making the opposite case.