Washoe County Library System

"In The Bomber Mafia, Malcolm Gladwell weaves together the stories of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard to examine one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history. Most military thinkers in the years leading up to World War II saw the airplane as an afterthought. But a small band of idealistic strategists, the "Bomber Mafia", asked:...

Introduces various kinds of fighter planes used by the Army Air Force and by the Navy and Marines during World War II, their missions, and the weapons employed.

"Recounts the Doolittle Raid, a top-secret bombing mission and ambitious counterstrike against Tokyo in 1941, that was led by daredevil Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle and turned the tide of the war--but came at a horrific cost." --

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared--Lt. Louis Zamperini. Captured by the Japanese and driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor.

"The vivid story of the young Americans who fought and died in the aerial battles of World War I. The Unsubstantial Air is a chronicle of war that is more than a military history; it traces the lives and deaths of the young Americans who fought in the skies over Europe in World War I. Using letters, journals, and memoirs, it speaks in their voices and answers primal questions: What was it like to be there? What was it like to fly those planes, to...

Based on a true story about the famous plane of World War II, the Flying Fortress, Memphis Belle is about the crew of one of the B-17s flying their last mission before they can go home to a hero's welcome.

"The World War II air war in the Pacific needed tough men like Colonel Pappy Boyington and his Black Sheep Squadron. The legendary Marine Corps officer and his bunch of misfits, outcasts, and daredevils gave new definition to "hell-raising"on the ground and in the skies. Pappy himself was a living legendhe personally shot down 28 Japanese planes, and won the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. He broke every rule in the book in doing...

A memoir of active combat by an elite female helicopter pilot stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan describes her division's high-risk battles and how they were challenged to perform under extreme duress, and shares insights into her experiences as a woman in a male-dominated unit.