Frank Carlson Library

In 1944, as World War II is raging, 15-year-old Jack dreams of being a hero. When he lies and joins the Air Force, he finds himself on a dangerous bombing mission-that may be his last.

"I was nineteen years old, still soft at the edges, but with a confident belief in good fortune. I carried a small rolled-up tent, a violin in a blanket, a change of clothes, a tin of treacle biscuits, and some cheese. I was excited, vain-glorious, knowing I had far to go; but not, as yet, how far." Despite this romantic and optimistic opening, what Lee finds is the most primitive and feudal country in Europe, a peninsula untouched by the modern world,...

Reprint. Originally published: New York : Scribner, 1890. Includes index.

The acclaimed author's controversial 1967 debut was a novel of men at war-with themselves. Lieutenant Dan Tierney is a Marine aboard the vast but labyrinthine and claustrophobic USS Vanguard, an aircraft carrier on patrol in the Pacific in 1956. Forced by the illness of his commanding officer to assume control of the Marines on board, Tierney must make decisions that will alter the lives of his troops and the shape of own future. When a minor...

"Riveting . . . rollicking . . . elegantly captures a changing France reckoning with the cultural revolutions of the mid-20th century."-Publishers Weekly (starred review) Enthralling essays on the expatriate experience in Paris and shrewd literary criticism by one of the twentieth century's finest writers. Mavis Gallant is revered as one of the great short story writers of her generation, but she was also an astute observer and formidable reporter....