We cannot adequately measure the weight of our gratitude to the survivors who lent their voices and their experiences to this book. We were overwhelmed by their willingness to open up about their lives, have been personally touched by their ordeals and their triumphs, and are honored to be entrusted with their uniquely harrowing stories.
In addition, we extend our special thanks to Dan Farley, a man of considerable generosity of spirit and sage guidance. We are deeply grateful to Richard Pine, whose council creates a particular sort of alchemy that turns ideas into reality and agents into comrades. The same can be said for the fine people at Inkwell Management, especially David Hale Smith, Alexis Hurley, Lizz Blaise, Nathaniel Jacks, and Eliza Rothstein. We reserve a special acknowledgment for Karen Rinaldi, our incredible editor, who defined, and then redefined, resilience for us. Our appreciation extends to her staff, Jake Zebede, Julie Will, Stephanie Cooper, Steven Boriack, and the entire team at HarperCollins—in particular HarperWave, an imprint with the exhilarating goal of changing readers’ lives.
Mimi Kravetz and Vin Eiamvuthikorn quite literally endured years of listening to us talk “book,” and their patience and wisdom remain our secret ingredient. Additional thanks goes out to Janis Cooke Newman, whose encouragement cultivated a seed of an idea into this book, as well as to Ethan Watters, Po Bronson, Stacy Perman, and Ellen Geiger.
We are grateful to our families, Jim and Terri Kravetz, and Michael and Pamela Feldman, who instilled in us a deep curiosity about the world. Additional thanks go out to Ryan Elliot Kravetz, Carin and Paul Feldman, Vicki Tsi, Liora Bowers, Lilach Shafir, Tony D’souza, Mona Kerby, Dina Nayeri, and Daniel Steven, who provided foundational support.
We were humbled by the generous backing of people and organizations, including John Carpenter, Adam Savage, Dan Tapster, M5 Industries, the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation, AMP’D Gear, the Before I Die Project, and The Bucket List Foundation. Further thanks go to the International Paralympic Committee, the Sigi Ziering Institute, Lucky Duck Productions, the NYU Cancer Center, America’s Black Holocaust Museum, the Iraq Afganistan Veterans of America, Stanford University Hospital and Clinics, Psychology Today, The Huffington Post, Cancer Care of New York, the NYU Clinical Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University Hospital, and Gopi Kallayil at Google Inc.
We wrote much of this book as inhabitants of the San Francisco Writer’s Grotto. Spaces have souls, and the Grotto’s overflows its confines of brick and mortar.