1970s adult-education adulthood adventure africa african-safari ambition america american-dream american-expat americas-pastime author autobiographical autobiography aviation baseball baseball-legend betrayal biography boarding-school bravery british british-author british-empire british-literature calico-joe career career-ending career-ending-injury chicago-cubs childhood childhood-dreams childhood-hero childhood-heroes comedy comedy-writing coming-of-age communication competition courage cultural-differences cultural-misunderstandings culture culture-shock determination disappointment drama dreams dysfunctional-family east-africa education england entertaining entertainment escapades essays expat-life exploration failure fame family family-drama family-dynamics family-relationships family-secrets father-son-relationship father-son-relationships fatherhood fathers-and-sons fiction fighter-pilot flying flying-ace foreign-language forgiveness france french-language friendship funny going-solo grisham healing heartwarming hero historical home-run hometown-hero hope humor humor-writing humorist humorous identity independence injury innocence inspiration justice kenya language language-acquisition language-barrier language-barriers language-learning learning legacy legendary-player legends life-experiences linguistics love love-for-the-game love-of-the-game loyalty major-league major-league-baseball major-leagues memoir mentorship middle-east military military-service misadventures mischief miscommunication misfit new-york-mets non-fiction nonfiction norway norwegian nostalgia observational-humor paris passion perseverance personal-essays personal-growth personal-stories pilot pilots pitcher planes professional-athlete professional-athletes professional-baseball professional-sports raf raf-pilot reconciliation record-breaking redemption regret regrets relationships resilience revenge rivalries rivalry roald-dahl rookie royal-air-force sacrifice sarcasm satire scandal second-chances secrets self-deprecating self-deprecating-humor self-discovery small-town small-town-america social-commentary sports sports-fiction sportsmanship storytelling success survival suspense talent tanzania teaching tragedy travel triumph true-story underdog war war-stories wartime wartime-experiences wit witty world-war-ii writer writing young-adult youth