1950s action action-packed adrenaline adrenaline-rush adventure adversity aerial-combat aerial-maneuvers aerial-warfare african-american african-american-experience african-american-literature air-combat air-force aircraft alienation ambition american american-dream american-history american-literature american-soldiers army army-life atmospheric aviation aviators battle betrayal black-experience black-identity blindness bravery brotherhood brutality camaraderie character-development character-driven civil-rights combat coming-of-age competition comradeship conflict conformity courage danger death destiny determination discrimination disillusionment drama duty emotional endurance excitement exhilarating exhilaration existential existentialism fate fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilots flying freedom friendship grief gripping grit gritty guerrilla-warfare harlem harlem-renaissance hawaii helicopter helicopters heroism historical historical-fiction honor humanity hunters identity identity-crisis individualism individuality infantry injustice intense intensity invisibility invisible invisible-man isolation james james-salter jazz jungle jungle-warfare karl-marlantes korean-war leadership literary literary-fiction literature loss love love-affairs love-triangle loyalty marine-corps marines masculinity military military-fiction military-life modernism moral-dilemmas morality mortality novel obsession oppression passion pearl-harbor perseverance pilot pilots platoon politics post-war power power-dynamics prejudice protagonist protest psychological psychological-impact psychological-warfare ptsd pursuit race racism realism realistic redemption relationships resilience risk risk-taking rivalries rivalry romance sacrifice salter segregation self-discovery social-commentary social-inequality social-injustice social-justice society soldier soldiers southern-united-states stereotypes strategy struggle survival suspense suspenseful symbolism tension the-hunters thrill thriller thrilling tragedy trauma triumph underground us-marines victory vietnam vietnam-veterans vietnam-war violence war war-fiction war-literature war-novel war-story war-strategy warfare world-war-ii