1950s 20th-century action addiction adrenaline adrenaline-rush adventure adversity aerial-combat aerial-warfare afghanistan afghanistan-war air-combat air-force ambition america american american-author american-dream american-history american-literature american-society architecture atmospheric autobiography aviation aviators betrayal biography boston bravery brotherhood building camaraderie challenges character-driven character-study combat combat-experiences coming-of-age community compassion competition comradeship conflict construction coping courage craftsmanship creativity danger death design determination domestic-life drama dreams duty dysfunctional emotional existentialism exploration family family-dynamics fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilots flying friendship gripping healing heroism historic-preservation historical history home home-improvement homecoming homelessness homeownership honor hope house housing housing-crisis humanity identity inspiration intense intensity interior-design introspection introspective investigative-journalism investigative-reporting iraq iraq-war james journalism journey kidder korean-war life life-after-war literary-fiction literature loss love loyalty masculinity massachusetts memoir memoirs mental-health mental-illness military military-families military-fiction military-life military-service mortality narrative narrative-nonfiction new-england non-fiction nonfiction novel obsession passion patriotism perseverance personal-growth personal-journey personal-narrative personal-struggle perspective pilots post-traumatic-stress-disorder post-war poverty preservation psychological ptsd pulitzer-prize pulitzer-prize-winner pulitzer-prize-winning pulitzer-prize-winning-author real-estate recovery redemption reflection rehabilitation relationship relationships renovation resilience restoration risk risk-taking rivalry romance rural rural-life sacrifice salter self-discovery self-reflection small-town social-class social-commentary social-issues social-justice soldier soldiers storytelling struggle success survival suspense suspenseful teamwork the-hunters thrill thrilling tracy tragedy transformation trauma triumph true-story veteran veterans victory vietnam vietnam-war war world-war-ii writing