Earl Swift

It's become a part of the landscape that we take for granted, the site of rumbling eighteen-wheelers and roadside rest stops, a familiar route for commuters and vacationing families. But during the twentieth century, the interstate highway system dramatically changed the face of our nation. These interconnected roads-over 47,000 miles of them-are man-made wonders, economic pipelines, agents of sprawl, uniquely American symbols of escape and freedom,...

Where They Lay is both an account of an elite military team's high-tech, high-risk search for a Vietnam War pilot's remains, and a moving retelling of his intense final hours. In far-flung rain forests and its futuristic lab near Pearl Harbor, the Central Identification Laboratory (CILHI) strives to recover and identify the bodies of fighting men who never came home from America's wars. Its mission combines old-fashioned bushwhacking and detective...

Tangier Island, Virginia, is a community unique on the American landscape. Mapped by John Smith in 1608, settled during the American Revolution, the tiny sliver of mud is home to 470 hardy people who live an isolated and challenging existence, with one foot in the 21st century and another in times long passed. They are separated from their countrymen by the nations largest estuary, and a twelve-mile boat trip across often tempestuous water the same...