"A lively, unexpected portrait of the jet-age stewardesses serving on iconic Pan Am airways between 1966 and 1975"--

Patty Bear grew up among the "Plain People" amidst bountiful farmlands, black bonnets, and black cars. It was a world unto itself, both bucolic and beastly, with traditions and beliefs from the old world deeply rooted in the fertile soil of Central Pennsylvania.Insulated by a culture that steadfastly kept its distance from outsiders and the march of progress, as a little girl she anticipated following in her mother's footsteps. But in 1972, at the age of eight, her father sparked religious controversy and ignited a scandal rare in the Mennonite community. Abruptly subjected to the chaos that surrounded the ritual practice of shunning, Patty, her mother, and five siblings were swept into a tornado of absurd accusations and public humiliation, forced to hide and endure publicity that headlined prominent national newspapers for almost a decade.With her childhood and adolescence overshadowed by domestic violence and her father's abusive rhetoric, as well as persistent teaching by the Church that women were designed for subjugation and obedience, Patty's assumed image of her future gradually shifted-leading her to heed the call of her wild soul and the whispers of her Guides toward a bold quest for freedom she never imagined possible.

"This saga of bad luck and good company is a wry, scary, heartfelt ode to the traverses we have to make in life when we're at the end of our rope and there's no net below us." —ELLE When Hattie's moody boyfriend dumps her in Paris, she returns home to find that her sister Min is in the psych ward again. Freaked out by the prospect of becoming a surrogate mother to Min's kids, Logan and Thebes, Hattie decides to take them in the family van to find their father, last heard to be running an idiosyncratic art gallery in South Dakota. What ensues is a remarkable journey across America, as aunt and kids—through chaos as diverse as their personalities—discover one another to be both far crazier and far more normal than any of them thought.

The History of the Jodhpur Flying Club is the remarkable story of an Indian Maharaja's passion for flight, and his contributions to the early commercial air routes to southeast Asia. His Highness Maharajah Umaid Singh was instrumental in establishing one of the first air bases in India. During the 1920's and 1930's this visionary member of one of India's most distinguished families created the Jodhpur Flying Club near to Jodhpur's giant Chittar Palace. Today that small air field is now one of the Indian Air Force's premier military bases. From the 1920's until the 1950's the royal family of Jodhpur pushed the frontiers of Indian aviation and in doing so assisted the Allied war effort during World War 2. Peter Vacher, noted author of Hurricane R4118, takes the reader on a trip to meet some of the intrepid long-distance aviators of the 1930s, and from there to the establishment of the Royal Air Force base which provided the training of Indian pilots and facilities for 'Over the Hump'. The book contains detailed information about the many aircraft to have passed through Jodhpur and the mavericks who flew them. From Tiger Moths to Lockheed Electras, the story is supported by many rare photographs from this previously untold arena of pioneer aviators. The History of the Jodhpur Flying Club is a richly illustrated kaleidoscope of aviation in India prior to, and during, the Second World War, and the story of how the friendship between an Indian Prince and an RAF officer contributed to the Allied war effort in Asia.