Postscript to the Reader of this Book

I would like to believe that some people will find the present work interesting and helpful. I have no doubt whatsoever that others will react to it with anger and indignation. I cannot help that. The purpose of a work of history is not to please people, but to tell the truth. If that truth is unpalatable to some, it cannot be helped.

To those I have offended, I can only say: “My friend, for the last forty years your version of what happened has been told a thousand times over.” But repetition does not make it true. I can only say what I saw, what I lived through, and what I know.