The One Man

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

When you do something people don’t expect from you, something way beyond the margins of your resume, one thing you learn quickly is who will come along for the ride and who will take a pass. One of my favorite quotes, from Henry Ford, is, “Some people think they can and others think they can’t, and they’re probably both right.” This book, one so close to my heart, yet so different from anything I’ve ever attempted before, represents about the 6,532nd time I’ve asked people to take that ride along with me over a handful of careers. I guess I’m just one of those who perpetually think that they can-and I hope this book, in the humblest of ways, bears that out.

There are many to thank, some already mentioned in the Author’s Note, who have helped make this effort seem far more accomplished and well-researched:

Robert Kupp, a nonagenarian in his own right, and who was a chemical engineer assigned to the Manhattan Project, for talking me through the tricky edges of atomic science, someone who barely muddled his way through eighth-grade Earth Science.

Joanna Powell, my neighbor, for digging into her boxes and sharing two extraordinary family memoirs, which painted a rich tableau of Jewish life before and during the war.

Steve Berry (and his wife, Liz), who made it clear at their kitchen counter in Florida that this was the next book I needed to write. And for his patience and plotting acumen in nursing it through a couple of early outlines.

My friend Roy Grossman, who always adds enough clarity that I seem to keep putting my Work in Progress back in front of him.

The many people over the years who have shared their Holocaust stories, especially Auschwitz survivors Magda Linhart and Morris Pilberg, whose harrowing tale of the gun that kept jamming at the back of his head I used in the book. I pray I’ve done some small justice to all of them.

My agent, Simon Lipskar, who challenged me over and over to firm up the background and historical antecedents to the story. And who didn’t do a half-bad job of finding the right home for it.

To my new team at Minotaur Books and St. Martin’s Press-my editor, Kelley Ragland, Andy Martin, Sally Richardson, Jen Enderlin-for seeing the virtue in an outline when many didn’t and for giving it the kind of enthusiasm and unity of effort an author rarely feels from his publisher. I pray that outline has become an even better book.

And to my wife, Lynn, who has stood next to me through many such rides, believing in them (mostly), this being just one more. Your partnership in life is evident within these pages.