Book excerpt: When I started this book, the word 'Assassination' in the title referred to the homicide of a powerful military and political individual whose elimination could alter the course of world history. The word 'Preparations' included the choice of an assassin, the plans for the actual deed, those involved in the planning and those who desired that it take place and succeed. The word 'Consequences' included an elaborate scheme to silence the assassin, and to cover up those involved in his elimination. The cover-up would initiate a domino sequence with repercussions that continue up to the present time. However, the title could also be applied to the assassinations that were carried out - by the millions - in the Nazi Holocaust. The preparations were clearly documented in the detailed archives of 'Kristallnacht' and those of the 'Wannsee Conference'. The consequences included the Nuremberg Trials, in which the evidence against the assassins, and those guilty of aiding and abetting the crime, was taken from the very Nazi archives of which they were so proud. Then came those who aligned themselves with the Holocaust Denial, and the neoNazi resurgence was alive and well across the world. Finally, when even such mass slaughter of defenceless noncombatants could be denied, defended or even ignored, the world was ready for a new wave of terrorism on a massive scale. Such documented horrors required an antidote, and this has been provided in the book by the personal stories of a retired surgeon and his wife. These are stories of determination and happiness in facing the varied challenges of daily life. -Simon Marinker