This true story of the downing of a US surveillance plane satisfies with technical details, suspense, and appropriate humor, but most importantly through the demonstration of the character of Shane Osborn and his crew. Although co-written, like most books of this type, his voice shines through with an excellently balanced acount of his life and experiences as well as the story of the headline news incident itself. This book should be required reading at all military academies.

I like the book because it was about planes and the heroic story of downed U.S. Navy piolt Lt. Shane Osborn. I liked the book because it is a true story Shane Osborn and his crew. I also liked it because of the heroic chapter 18 plot of when Shane and his crew were going down in an aircaft. Also because it is just an all around good book about the Navy. The best part in the book is when Shane and his crew pulled up from the nose dive. The settings were great. The characters were real people and it was about a kid who accomplished his goal. The settings were good because of the real truth of where the settings take place. Shane is a young kid that has always wanted to fly and he finally accomplished his lifetime goal.

This is a great story about the downed pilot from the US Navy! Michael French has done a great job on this book. Michale French is an excetional author!This is a great book for young people. I would recommend this book for the juvenile audience.

This book explores the healing aspects of faith in terms of scientific evidence. As the director of Duke University's Center for the Study of Religion/Spirituality and Health, the author, Dr. Harold Koenig, has become an expert in this discipline and shares everything he has learned in this very fascinating and informative book. Through his medical background and through fifteen years of dedicated research and after over 50 research studies Koenig provides a strong argument for the healing power of faith. From the very start, it is made clear that this is not a book claiming the miracles of God but rather is a book "concerned with concrete data" to "investigate the therapeutic or healing power of people's religious faith." Some of the findings from this data are that people who have a strong faith have healthier lifestyles possibly due to religions encouragement of proper and healthy conduct. Religious people also cope well with stress, are less likely to be depressed and hospitalized than their non-religious counterparts, have a stronger immune system, and live longer. Other important research, conducted by people other than Koenig's team, are included in this book as well. This book is quite comprehensive in its review of all the literature out there on the healing power of faith.

The book is filled with poignant personal stories that help illustrate the scientific findings. The stories are of depression, alcoholism, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other medical conditions. One such story is of Morty, a man who had been walking around with an blood alcohol level of 3.5. Morty was delivered to a detoxication unit where he stopped drinking on the first day of arrival and had an almost painless physical withdrawal from alcohol because he believed in the grace of God. Each story is as heartwarming and as inspiring as the one before. I loved how these stories were so smoothly used in adjunct with the scientific findings. It is definitely an effective blend of real life to which we all can relate and science from which we all can learn.

Another great thing about this book is that at the very end it offers suggestions to how one can benefit from the Power of faith. It is separated into three different parts: 1) if you are already religious, 2) if you are not religious, and 3) if you simply are not yet ready to consider religion. This is very nice because it offers suggestions for everyone not only those who are religious and are already benefiting.

A definite plus to this book is that is it easy reading. Although it deals with real scientific research the entire book is very readable. One does not get bored with scientific jargon. In fact the book is very engaging and I finished it in one night. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who is interested in this subject. We all can learn from it, religious people and atheists alike.

Heart warming book that beautifully combines scientific data with personal stories. Koenig writes well, keeps your interest, and brings medical research to an understandable level. His point is clear--faith is good for your health.

A fascinating book that kept my attention throughout. Nice blend of personal stories that illustrate some remarkable research. Recommend highly.

This book, which documents Robert Ballard's professional life up to the time of publication, is truly a work of wonder. It is written to where it makes you feel like you're there with them, giving firsthand accounts of Ballard's bathyscaphe incidents, the politics of academia, the discovery of Titanic, the loss and recovery of Hugo and Jason, and the discovery of the Bismarck. An incredible publication, indeed.

Mr Ballard is probably best known for his work in locating the wreck of the Titanic and all the press that event was given. He well deserves the rave reviews for his work but he also proves to be a very readable, clear, intelligent writer. The tales of finding underwater thermal springs and the unique life forms that live in them is fascinating. I was extremely sorry to finish this book and will keep an eye open for any new book he may publish. He is on my "must read" list of authors.

This book describes the last bombing mission by the B-29's of the 315th wing of the 20th Air Force. This is an important piece of history mainly because this mission took place after the 2nd A bomb was dropped . . . the time most historians claimed the war with Japan ended. The research that was done to write this book was done by Jim Smith, who was on this mission and knew there was more to it than just another raid on Japan's oil refineries. What came out of the research and is presented in this book is a story so important that it had to be told. What might have happened if this mission had not been flown could have cost the lives of millions of Americans and Japanese. In addition to being a good and exciting story, this is history that has not been reported before in anywhere near as much detail and with as much accuracy. I flew this mission also and have waited nearly 60 years for this story to be told. It is done well and with a high concern for accuracy by Smith and McConnell. Read it if you care anything about history as it really happened.

What a great book! The author makes this small piece of history read as a fiction novel. It gives the detailed account of a night bomber group and the powerbrokers of the Japanese Empire. The stories, very well researched and written, never collide; yet parallel to weave a splendid story. The action is tense and faced paced, and you will not be able to put it down. The authors cite many other works on my bookshelves that I am more eager to read. The stories of the night modified B-29B, flying from Guam points the roots of US strategic air power. The story of the inner turmoil of Japan's surrender are also well done and cited. The book covers (for me) new ground on the use and policy of the decision to drop the atomic bombs. The third story told, the US fear of a prolonged campaign on the Japanese home islands, and the use of more atomic weapons was very interesting. This book is for serious and casual history reader packs an atomic punch!

I have known and admired Bob Ballard since his early years at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution - and for good reason. Too many professional ocean scientists tut tut Ballard as a showman (the same was done more cuttingly to Capt. Jacques Yves Cousteau by French scientists). But Ballard's scientific achievements alone put him among the scientific elite had he never taken a step as a popularizer. Thank God he left the ivory tower and used his incredible gifts to utilize and innovate with ocean technology. Without him finding the Titanic, Bismarck, and PT 109 would have been unlikely for reasons of both cost and extreme logistic difficulty.

The recognition that no-oxygen, hydrogen sulfide deeps of the Black sea preserved many important ancient wrecks and hold untold insights for future study of the past opens up breathtaking future vistas. Ballard is an optimist and an idealist. His Jason project, bringing tens or even hundreds of thousands of school kids into ocean exploration is an island of healthy excitement into an otherwise discouraging educational world in the U.S.

Ballard can be interesting talking about rigging or paint cans. I don't know how he does it. He's an inspiration and role model, and deserves the Nation's highest civilian honor. I hope he achieves it while still vigorously at work creating more excitement and knowledge of our ocean realm!

Malcolm McConnell has in one book hit upon all the points necessary for good fiction writing. By using examples of his students' writing as starting points, he takes us along on the journey where these writers become more and more polished in their craft. I was particularly impressed with the progress made by Bill Schmit, one of his student writers, from the first draft of "With No Regrets" to his rewrite. Mr. McConnell used this second draft to illustrate the "Pivot of Illumination" in one of the characters. To quote Mr. McConnell, "I am not suggesting that the second draft of "With No Regrets" is completely integrated, faultlessly polished fiction.But I use these two draft scenes as examples of what can be accomplished once the beginning writer understands the requirements of dramatic structure in fiction." Read this book and you'll begin to appreciate the journey writers like "Bill Schmit" take in polishing their craft. Maybe one day "Bill Schmit" WILL write that "completely integrated, faultlessly polished fiction" Malcolm McConnell talks about in "The Essence of Fiction."

I've know Johnny France since he was a young man. Without his dogged determination, these two killers might not have ever been captured. Don Nichols is still in prison and most likely will never get paroled. This book tells fascinating tale almost too strange to believe in these modern times. Great reading!!

Beneath some of Montana's grandest mountain peaks lurked a preditor. Caught in the crosshairs of Don Nichols twisted logic was Kari Swenson. The idea of a mountain bride, stolen from a remote wooded trail. Most amazing is how the Nichols' not only managed to elude the persistance of Johnny France, but stayed one step ahead certain death in the Montana winter of 1984 with just the packs on thier backs. You wont be able to put this one down!

For two decades following the Vietnam war, ill-fated attempts by the United States to obtain conclusive evidence concerning the fate of hundreds of POW/MIA's from the Vietnam war finally found success. In a bold and daring espionage mission, former U.N. refugee officer Theodore G. Schweitzer was the acting agent for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in what later became known as Operation Swamp Ranger.

Beginning in March of 1992 and lasting several months, Schweitzer was granted access to Vietnamese war archives that held a voluminous amount of information on U.S. servicemen that were missing in action and others that were held as prisoners of war. Vietnam, up until this point, had strenuously denied for years that they had any useful data on missing servicemen and they blatantly withheld documents that would solve many discrepancy cases on unknown losses of U.S. personnel. Using previously unreleased photographs, meticulously annotated files, and physical evidence, Operation Swamp Ranger completely exposed Vietnam's attempts to bury the POW/MIA issue over the years. Although only suspected by the U.S. government, Vietnam's General Political Directorate (GPD) finally admitted that many U.S. servicemen were killed in cold blood.

Operation Swamp Ranger also proved to be useful in the aspect that it helped dispel the widespread theory that Americans had been abandoned by the U.S. government after repatriation of POW's in 1973. Furthermore, scams and other fraudulent activities aimed at the grieving families of MIA's were exposed and contradicted by evidence gained from Hanoi's archives. Lastly, there appears to be no conclusive facts to date which could verify that there are actual live POW's still held in Vietnam today.

Although limited cooperation with the Vietnamese government regarding POW/MIA's faltered after revelations from Operation Swamp Ranger became known to the public at large, the U.S. government still claimed a large victory in what amounts to a monumental breakthrough in the enduring POW/MIA controversy. Unfortunately, this long and arduous journey does not have a happy ending. Not yet, anyway. Even as the Defense POW/MIA Office (DPMO) continues to negotiate, haggle, bargain, cajole, and mediate with Vietnam regarding additional unreleased material they still hold, there are no clear indications of just how much further progress will be accomplished in the future. As stated in the author's narrative, communist archives are notoriously known for disinformation and forgeries and nothing in Vietnam is ever straightforward or simple.

Inside Hanoi's Secret Archives is a remarkable investigation into previously hidden wartime data. Generously footnoted and offering revealing photographs, this is a fascinating and memorable reading experience. Anyone having the slightest or even most demanding questions concerning the ongoing legacy of missing U.S. servicemen in Vietnam, I would enthusiastically recommend this book to you and to everyone in general.

I just read the book two months ago, and as a Marine Corps Vietnam Veteran I became very emotional as to Capt. Lance Sijan's dedication to duty and Country. He has helped me to reflect on myself and gave me a new prespective on my own life. I enjoyed the book so much I purchased one for my son a Police Officer and my second son who spent four years in the US Marine Corps 2/6 and is presently in the Air Force. It is a must for any man who faces difficult times....

Lance Peter Sijan is a hero of our time! His story unfolds in the book "Into the Mouth of The Cat" and we are instantly capitvated by not only his courage in the face of his captors but we are also amazed at his will to survive, and assist his other fellow captives in the Hanoi Hilton Prison. We are so unaware of the heros of the Vietnam War and there were many who displayed great courage and perserverance despite the fact that others viewed the war as unwinnable or corupt. Please read this story and then you too will understand why the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs decided to name their freshman student dorimtory after Capt Sijan, a hero of our time.

I FIRST READ THIS BOOK ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO, WHILE WORKING IN A BOOK STORE. I HAVE SINCE READ IT SEVERAL TIMES. LANCE SIJAN IS ONE OF THE MOST COURAGOUS AND HEROIC MEN WHO HAS EVER LIVED. HE IS THE PERFECT ROLL MODEL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE TODAY. THIS IS AN EXCELLENT READ THAT WILL NOT ONLY BRING THE PLIGHT OF THE VIETNAM WAR, BUT ALSO THE POW/MIA ISSUE INTO REAL LIFE. LANCE SIJAN IS A TRUE AMERICAN HERO, WHO WILL NEVER FORGOTTEN!!