When doing media interviews about March 1939: Before the Madness,

both at the time of its original release, and now at the approach of 

Oregon's appearance in the 2017 Final Four, I often have been asked: 

"How'd you come to do this book?" It's a natural question, and my

answer -- involving my connection to the material and my inquisitiveness

about the period covered in the book -- always is a condensed version of

the book's introduction. So I thought that I'd post the Introduction here.

-- Terry Frei, March 27, 2017