I’d like to acknowledge the unswerving encouragement of my agent, Luigi Bonomi, who has always fought my corner with tenacity and enthusiasm. Profound thanks are also due to my editor at Macmillan, Jeremy Trevathan, who has, from the start, been whole-hearted in his support of this book, and for his incisive and inspired editing. On a more practical note, I must offer my thanks to Ronald Fairfax, author of Corky’s War (Mutiny Press, ISBN 978-0-9559705-0-4) for his invaluable assistance in the vital field of research. As always, any errors of fact are mine and mine alone.