Preface History and Chapter 1 Summary

The author notes the discoveries concerning the structure of matter and the beginning of the atomic century from 1900 through 1905, and sets the stage for the beginning of World war 1 in 1914, which ends in 1918 with ten million dead.

A short preface mentions a German soldier walking in the San Lorenzo district in Rome in 1941, with the first name of Gunther. A rather immature, large bodied young German soldier, raised in Bavaria but legally from Dachau, he is destined to be shipped to mysterious Africa. He is excited but, as a child, is also afraid. He is free temporarily, walking the streets of Rome. Anticipating opportunities for heroism in Africa, he is also missing his mother, his home and an older prostitute to whom he recently gave his virginity. He roams the uninteresting streets looking for a brothel, but...