Acknowledgments

John Donne reminds us that no man is an island entire of itself. My book emerges from a community, without which I would be the less.

First and foremost I am indebted to Henriette von Trapp for allowing me to edit and use parts of her memoir. A remarkable woman, she was the wife of the first von Trapp child, Rupert. Though stricken with crippling polio shortly after her wedding, she led an active life that included raising six children. My indebtedness extends to her sister FranÇoise, who first brought the memoir to my attention.

Warren Garfield, a longtime school friend, kindly found and reproduced the old newspaper reports of the Mary Astor trial. His own screenplay, based on the novel, gave me numerous ideas for revision.

Mitchell Waters, a first-rate literary agent, read the manuscript with a discerning eye, pointing out numerous stylistic misadventures.

My two editors, Gene Margaritondo and Janice Braunstein, artfully showed me the errors of my ways and, in so doing, saved me from subsequent despair. Kalen Landow tirelessly promoted the book, and Karie Simpson never failed to remind me of a deadline or an omission.

The distinguished people who have lent their names to the cover jacket reside in my pantheon of heroes: Frank Delaney, the brilliant novelist of Irish themes and the inspiration for chapter 2; H. Bruce Franklin, a Rutgers (Newark) professor and champion of justice, whom I tried unsuccessfully to hire several years ago but was rebuffed by the University of Colorado Regents; Berel Lang, professor emeritus, philosopher, aesthetician, holocaust scholar, and former colleague; and Alan Wald, an eminent historian of 1930s left-wing literature, now retired from the University of Michigan.

Warren Grover’s book, Nazis in Newark, provided invaluable background information, as did the numerous unnamed reference and history books that I consulted.

As always, I remain indebted to my family for their moral support and for their patience with my absences, when I frequently retreated to my office.

Financial assistance came from the University of Colorado, and in particular the generosity of Philip DiStefano.

And, once again, I thank Rick Rinehart for his encouragement and friendship.