1950s 20th-century action action-packed addiction adrenaline adrenaline-rush adventure adversity aerial-combat aerial-maneuvers aerial-warfare air-combat air-force aircraft ambition america american american-author american-dream american-history american-literature american-society architecture atmospheric aviation aviators bestseller betrayal biography boston bravery brotherhood building camaraderie challenges character-driven character-study class combat coming-of-age community compassion competition comradeship conflict construction courage craftsmanship creativity danger dangerous-missions death dedication design destiny determination domestic-life domesticity drama dreams duty dysfunctional emotional endurance excitement exhilarating existential existentialism family family-dynamics fate fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilots flying friendship grief gripping heroism historic-preservation historical history home home-improvement home-ownership homelessness homeownership honor house housing housing-crisis hunters identity inspiration intense intensity interior-design introspection introspective investigative-journalism investigative-reporting james james-salter journalism kidder korean-war literary literary-fiction literature loss love love-affairs love-triangle loyalty masculinity massachusetts memoir mental-health mental-illness military military-fiction morality mortality narrative narrative-nonfiction new-england non-fiction nonfiction novel obsession passion perseverance personal-growth personal-journey personal-narrative personal-narratives pilots poetic post-war poverty preservation psychological pulitzer-prize pulitzer-prize-winner pulitzer-prize-winning pulitzer-prize-winning-author pursuit real-estate recovery redemption relationship relationships renovation resilience restoration risk risk-taking rivalries rivalry romance rural rural-life sacrifice salter secrets self-discovery small-town social-class social-commentary social-issues social-justice storytelling struggle suburban-life success survival suspense suspenseful teamwork tension the-hunters thrill thriller thrilling tracy tragedy transformation trauma triumph true-story urban-planning victory vietnam vietnam-war war world-war-ii writing