This well-written, gripping story about Major Plagge should be read by everyone, and studied in high schools and colleges. Surely one of the lessons of the horrible atrocities committed in so many places during the twentieth century is that the progress of the human race may depend more on learning moral fortitude than scientific or academic knowlege. Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot personally killed or tortured relatively few people. However, they accomplished unfathomable evil because so many "ordinary" people lacked the willingness to listen to their consciences and to resist their commands. All of us ordinary people need to study the lives of heroes like Major Plagge so that when we face life's frequent tests of moral courage, both small and large, we won't fail. We desperately need books like this. I strongly recommend it both for its wonderful style and moral importance.