Wake Island Wildcat: A Marine Fighter Pilot's Epic Battle at the Beginning of World War II
By William L. Ramsey
Published by Stackpole Books
Release Date: 2024

Written as an homage to his great-uncle,  author William L. Ramsey recounts in Wake Island Wildcat the heroic tales of Captain and Marine pilot Henry Talmage Elrod. As Ramsey shares in his book’s acknowledgements, he was inspired to pen his great-uncle’s life story after growing up hearing his late grandmother talk about Elrod’s impressive military career and more at the dinner table.

“She pointed a finger at me and said, ‘Write a book about Talmage,’” he writes. And so he did. Each chapter reveals the many layers of this all-American hero, otherwise known as “Hammerin’ Hank” back in the day, a key figure in the defense attack on Wake Island in December 1941 on the same day as the attack on Pearl Harbor. Before that day, Elrod had attended Yale and spent his freshman year playing football for the University of Georgia. On Wake Island in the Pacific, he was one of 12 fighter pilots manning an F4F Wildcat for two weeks of battle. On December 10 and 11, Elrod took on a group of 22 Japanese planes, shot down two of them, and then bombed and strafed the destroyer Kisaragi to become the first American pilot to sink a warship with small caliber bombs in World War II. It’s clear that Ramsey, an award-winning historian, poet, and a professor of history at Lander University in South Carolina, has a passion for history, as he describes and maps out historic details with both creativity and expertise.  

Sharks Don't Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist
By Jasmin Graham with Makeba Rasin
Published by Pantheon Books
Release Date: 2024

The inspirational memoir, Sharks Don’t Sink, follows the journey of award-winning marine biologist Jasmin Graham as she navigates through a different direction than the traditional academic study. Just as the title implies, despite being denser than water, sharks don’t sink because they keep moving forward; so did Graham, forming Minorities in Shark Sciences (MSS) with three other Black women. The organization provides support and opportunities for other young women of color, with Graham becoming an independent researcher and “rogue shark scientist” to continue her pursuit to respect and protect nature’s most misunderstood creatures: sharks. Follow Graham while aboard research vessels in Biscayne, Florida, while at workshops, at her home in Tampa, and beyond. Growing up in South Carolina, Graham moved around the state because of her mom’s service in the Air Force, mainly living in Myrtle Beach and earning a B.S. in marine biology from the College of Charleston and an M.Sc. from Florida State University. A recipient of the WWF Conservation Leadership and the host of PBS’  “Sharks Unknown with Jasmin Graham,” her current specialty is in smalltooth sawfish and hammerhead sharks.