I'm Afraid!

Here is the first authorized English edition of an extremely rare memoir published in Paris, France in 1955. Told from the perspective of a purported German scientist who worked under the Nazis on atomic weapons, and who after the war was commissioned by the Americans to work on their atomic programs, I'm Afraid! takes us from the battle-scarred landscapes of wartime Germany to the pristine lawns of Princeton University; from Hermann Göring's elegant Carinhall residence to the stern offices of the Pentagon. What's more, I'm Afraid! is a desperate, prescient warning about the weaponization of science and scientists, the fragility of human understanding, the folly of geopolitical conflicts in an era dominated by advanced technologies, and the real prospects of a global government to prevent another catastrophic world war. I'm Afraid! also delivers surprising and contentious portraits of a gallery of historic personalities such as J. Robert Oppenheimer, Gustav Hertz, Edward Teller, Albert Einstein, and Adolf Hitler, all while dropping stunning secrets about early atomic activities. This edition reproduces - for the first time - all of the rare illustrations that appeared in the original French edition of the book. It also features an index and a preface by American journalist, historian, and translator Raul Vasquez which reveals the surprising identity of the European authors responsible for the book.