Since the Korean War ended in 1953, a number of books and articles have been written about the air-to-air battles between the American F-86s and Russian MiGs. Some parts of the stories that appear in those publications are probably true, but many of them contain fantasies, exaggerations and even lies that are both preposterous and demeaning to the Air Force. Unfortunately much of what survives in the West as the history of those epic air battles is found in those partially flawed publications. I was in a position to know what was going on there since I spent a year observing the scene as an F-86 pilot fighting the MiGs with the 51st Fighter Wing. I have written this book because I want to leave history a more complete and honest picture of what went on there. I have been retired for more than fifty years, but my love for the Air Force and loathing for anything that reflects shame or dishonor on that great organization has compelled me to act. Feeling the way I do, writing in an effort to correct and enhance the record is an easy task since I enjoy writing and was reared to place real value in truth, honor and integrity and hate dishonesty, dissembling and deceit.

"Thorndike Press Striving Reader Collection."

Irresistible Force Darius Carsington is a spectacularly handsome rake with a rare intelligence and no heart, a man who divides his time between bedding loose-moraled women and writing scholarly papers. He finds society's "perfect darlings" exceedingly boring. But there's something intriguing, and not quite perfect, about faultless Lady Charlotte Hayward. He senses a crack under her polished surface, and finding it is a challenge he can't resist. Immovable Object Lady Charlotte is so beautiful, charming, and gracious that no one has noticed what an expert she is at Not Getting Married. Early on, she learned a painful lesson about trust . . . and temptation. In the years since, she's devoted her life to being all she ought to be—and she's not about to let a man like Carsington entice her to do everything she shouldn't. A Splendid Collision But the rules of attraction can easily overpower the rules of manners and morals, and sometimes even the best-behaved girl has to follow her instincts, even if it means risking it all.

While debating literature’s greatest heroines with her best friend, thirtysomething playwright Samantha Ellis has a revelation—her whole life, she's been trying to be Cathy Earnshaw of Wuthering Heights when she should have been trying to be Jane Eyre. With this discovery, she embarks on a retrospective look at the literary ladies—the characters and the writers—whom she has loved since childhood. From early obsessions with the March sisters to her later idolization of Sylvia Plath, Ellis evaluates how her heroines stack up today. And, just as she excavates the stories of her favorite characters, Ellis also shares a frank, often humorous account of her own life growing up in a tight-knit Iraqi Jewish community in London. Here a life-long reader explores how heroines shape all our lives.

Parallel narratives alternating between Joan of Arc in 15th-century France and a 21st-century West Point cadet.

A captivating and powerful exploration of the opioid crisis—the deadliest drug epidemic in American history—through the eyes of a college-bound softball star. Edgar Award-winning author Mindy McGinnis delivers a visceral and necessary novel about addiction, family, friendship, and hope. When a car crash sidelines Mickey just before softball season, she has to find a way to hold on to her spot as the catcher for a team expected to make a historic tournament run. Behind the plate is the only place she’s ever felt comfortable, and the painkillers she’s been prescribed can help her get there. The pills do more than take away pain; they make her feel good. With a new circle of friends—fellow injured athletes, others with just time to kill—Mickey finds peaceful acceptance, and people with whom words come easily, even if it is just the pills loosening her tongue. But as the pressure to be Mickey Catalan heightens, her need increases, and it becomes less about pain and more about want, something that could send her spiraling out of control.