By any means necessary

"During the cold war, a relentless and dangerous battle of wits took place as top secret reconnaissance missions were flown continuously by the United States along the periphery of the Communist bloc, and occasionally deep into enemy territory, to collect information that would be used in the event of all-out nuclear war. Throughout this shadow war, American airmen risked, and sometimes lost, their lives in the search for vital military intelligence.". "These clandestine missions were cloaked in utmost secrecy, and the only hint of their existence came when a plane was shot down. Hundreds of Air Force and Navy crewmen were killed or wounded on these forays, and more than 130 disappeared altogether when their planes were shot down over or near enemy waters. By Any Means Necessary reveals that many of these airmen were captured by the Russians, Chinese, and North Koreans, and either killed outright or imprisoned and tortured. The U.S. government, needing to protect the reconnaissance operations, made no real attempt to recover the prisoners, who were written off as problems without a solution. Families were told their loved ones had died on training missions or because of navigational error. In spite of all the evidence to the contrary, government denials continue today as, in an effort to improve relations with Russia, Washington still looks the other way."--BOOK JACKET.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.