Maurice Duke

Coauthoring a book is a process that should not be entered into lightly. Writing a book from someone else's research, interviews, and outline is even more of a challenge. In coauthoring Tobacco Merchant; the Story of Universal Leaf Tobacco Company, which was published in 1995 by the University Press of Kentucky, I took over writing the book just at the point that Daniel P. Jordan, who originally conceived of the project, had to leave it because of other commitments. I wrote each chapter, submitted it to Dan, and then rewrote according to his impressions and instructions. The bulk of the book emanated from some two hundred interviews he had made, plus myriad company records, and continuous sessions with company personnel both past and present. Utmost patience and confidence ultimately produced a manuscript of about three hundred pages that now stands as the only published record of one of the world's major leaf tobacco dealers. They are the companies that purchase, process, store, and transport tobacco to the manufacturers, who then turn it into consumer products for the world tobacco market.