This award-winning memoir of U-M alumnus Charles Novacek tells his little-known story as a member of the Czech Resistance during World War II and the Cold War. Along with his father, uncle, and sister, Novacek helped the Resistance fight first the Nazis, then the Communists who moved into Czechoslovakia after the war ended. Novacek was responsible for many notable acts of heroism. He risked his life to hide Czech paratroopers who were on secret nighttime missions involving cargo drops of weapons and intelligence. He also stole a rifle and ammunition from a Nazi vehicle, then used the weapon to shoot a soldier who was intending to blow up an important railroad bridge. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright describes the book as “the well-told and dramatic story of a young man whose comfortable life is abruptly transformed by the savagery of World War II.”