1970s 1973 1980s adventure adventures adversity africa african-safari airplanes ambition america american-dream americas-pastime author autobiography aviation baseball baseball-legend batting-average bestseller betrayal biographical biography boarding-school bravery british british-author british-empire british-literature calico-joe career career-ending career-ending-injury chicago-cubs childhood childhood-hero childhood-heroes childhood-idol childhood-memories childhood-trauma colonialism comeback comebacks coming-of-age compassion competition conflict courage creativity determination disappointment drama dreams east-africa england escapades escape exploration failure faith fame family family-drama family-dynamics family-secrets famous-athlete father-and-son father-son father-son-relationship father-son-relationships fatherhood fathers-and-sons fiction fictional-biography fighter-pilot fighter-planes flying flying-ace forgiveness friendship going-solo greece grisham healing heartwarming hero heroism historical historical-fiction history home-run hometown-hero hope hopes-and-dreams humor humorous imagination independence independent injury innocence inspiration inspirational john journey justice kenya legacy legendary legendary-player legends literary literature london loss love love-for-the-game love-of-the-game loyalty major-league major-league-baseball major-leagues memoir mentorship middle-east military military-service mischief new-york-mets non-fiction nonfiction norway norwegian nostalgia passion perseverance personal-growth pilot pilots pitcher planes professional-athlete professional-athletes professional-baseball professional-sports raf raf-pilot reconciliation record-breaking redemption regret regrets resilience revenge rivalries rivalry roald-dahl rookie rookie-sensation royal-air-force sacrifice safari scandal second-chance second-chances second-world-war secrets self-discovery small-town small-town-america spies spitfire sports sports-fiction sportsmanship spy storytelling success survival suspense talent tanzania teamwork tragedy trauma travel triumph true-story underdog war war-experiences war-stories wartime wartime-experiences world-war-ii writer writing young-adult youth