I owe a debt of gratitude to a number of people who read earlier versions of the manuscript and offered suggestions, useful criticism, and encouragement. Franklin Stahl not only contributed the foreword and suggested the title for the book, but he also repeatedly went through the whole manuscript, raising important questions and pointing out errors of fact and of judgment. Hans Vogel gave freely of his time to share insights into the political and historical context; he alerted me to several important references which found their way into the concluding chapters of the book. He also made valuable suggestions concerning some of the technical and scientific aspects, as did Jurek Bem. Two physicists who prefer to remain anonymous helped with proofreading some of the physical chapters. A colleague from Japan, Teruichi Harada, helped with procuring several Japanese references and translating them into English; he also made multiple corrections to this text. Another colleague, who is a native speaker of Russian, helped with translations from that language. Jana Rade created a cover graphic that captures vividly the atrocious events this investigation has brought to light.
Among the members of my own family, the manuscript found a decidedly mixed reception—I appreciate both their encouragement and their rejection, because they showed me early on what kind of echo to expect when trying to tell this ‘far-out’ story.