"You just boarded a flight to New York. There are one hundred and forty-three other passengers onboard. What you don't know is that thirty minutes before the flight your pilot's family was kidnapped. For his family to live, everyone on your plane must die. The only way the family will survive is if the pilot follows his orders and crashes the plane. Enjoy the flight." --

Before John Glenn orbited the earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in...

Features two novels and a bonus story that center around the three O'Halloran brothers, who run a bush-plane charter service called Midnight Sons, and campaign to bring women to their small Alaska town inhabited mostly by men.

"Keith O'Brien weaves together the stories of five remarkable women: Florence Klingensmith, a high school dropout who worked for a dry cleaner in Fargo, North Dakota; Ruth Elder, an Alabama housewife; Amelia Earhart, the most famous, but not necessarily the most skilled; Ruth Nichols, who chafed at the constraints of her blue blood family's expectations; and Louise Thaden, the mother of two young kids who got her start selling coal in Wichita, Kansas....

Presents a history of the most famous secret military installation in the world, assembled from interviews with the people who served there and formerly classified information.

Dr. Ben Coles investigates suspicions that his new airplane safety technology has been sabotaged, while pilot's daughter April Rosen tries to figure out what caused her father's near-collision in midair.

"Elio Morillo's life is abruptly spun out of orbit when economic collapse and personal circumstances compel his mother to flee Ecuador for the United States in search of a better future for her son. His itinerant childhood sets into motion a migration that will ultimately carry Elio to the farthest expanse of human endeavor: space. Overcoming a history of systemic adversity and inequality in public education, Elio forged ahead on a journey as indebted...

Adams traveled thousands of miles and interviewed scores of experts and individuals to piece together his story of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Adams helps us understand the talent and intensity of the brothers and their family, including the fascinating, deeply complex, and at times tragic bond between Orville and Katherine, his younger sister. The Flyer is a wonderfully rich narrative that brings an unprecedented spirit and immediacy to one of history's...