"In this book, we tried to give a comprehensive picture of the way in which the Americans monitored and recorded the events of Imia, what troubled them about the behavior of Greek and Turkish politicians, and what they ultimately did. Our primary concern was the complete presentation of the developments as recorded in the American documents. (...)" "We took advantage of the opportunity to discover the truth offered by the American system through the Freedom of Information Act, which allows the search and publication of documents from the White House, the State Department, and other agencies. (...) For the first time, there is an in-depth presentation of the Americans' assessments through their own telegrams, which we hope will help not only the reader of this book but also the historian of the future as they try to integrate this critical period into the puzzle of modern Greek history." (from the book's preface)