In January 1947, Daniel Dennett seemed to have it made. Dennett, who had taught at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, during the early 1930s, was cultural attaché at the US Legation in Beirut. Dennett’s wife had just given birth to Charlotte, a beautiful baby girl. Dennett’s son, Daniel III, was five years old and thriving in the relaxed atmosphere of a city that still qualified as the exotic Paris of the Middle East.