Dedication

I dedicate this volume to my wife, Jennifer Kruman, who has stood by my side through every challenge, massive and small, for almost a decade, with otherworldly patience. I love you more than you will ever know.

This is also for the tens of millions of too-patient, too-long-silent fellow millennials hustling and grinding out there to make something of themselves and improve the world in their own way, despite all the roadblocks in their way. Keep on keeping on, brothers and sisters. We’ll get there before you know it.

This book owes a great deal to all the many naysayers, doubters, bad bosses, and sundry shmucks of all stripes and generations out there in all walks of life who have acted like the walking wounded and dead to me and so many others, projecting their trauma onto others. You have shaped my journey, steeled my resolve, made me more resourceful, and taught me to forgive (but never forget), despite everything. For that, accept my sincere thank you. There is hope for you, yet.

Lastly, this book would be impossible without my dear mother, Inna Kruman, plus an assortment of dear friends, especially Ilya Starobinets and David Alexander and many others, as well as rabbis, mentors, teachers, neighbors, listeners and readers, perfect strangers, and thousands of other people who have shown kindness without cause and have helped me in some way in my journey. You are legion and deeply appreciated.