of all the people you learned about, who would you not want to meet because of what you learned about them? i can t think of one. i ll tell you why. this book was different for me in form than anything i ve ever done because if you are writing a biography or writing the history of an event or an accomplishment, there is a certain obvious track, a certain structure that s built into the subject. and you re obligated to respect that and cover it, write about it, in all fairness to your reader. the cast of characters is already ordained. with this book, i could cast the book myself. i would pick the people that i wanted to write about. it probably 12 major characters in this book. probably 20-some people overall who appear, americans. but that s a fraction of the number that went to paris during this 70-year period that i m covering. so in organizing the book, organizing my approach to the subject, i was in many ways like a casting director. they would come in, show me what th