“One Minute to Ditch!”

Prize-winning True Stories of the Supreme Moment—When Men Suddenly Face Death

Some of these true stories are already famous because they have been dramatized on television. All of them take you straight to the heart of great moments of crisis.

You’ll know what it’s like to look down at the wide Pacific and realize that your plane is going to ditch there.

You’ll twist the wheel of your racing car as it takes a narrow turn at Indianapolis.

You’ll struggle in cabin 56 of the S.S. Andrèa Doria during its five last frantic hours.

In these and other stories, Cornelius Ryan, ace journalist, has caught the essence of that split-second that may be a man’s last. Two of these pieces have won Benjamin Franklin Magazine awards.

“One Minute To Ditch!”—Thirty-one men, women and children high over the mid-Pacific in a failing plane. (Dramatized on TV.)

Five Desperate Hours in Cabin 56—A story of the sinking of the S.S. Andrèa Doria told in gripping minute-by-minute detail. (Dramatized on TV.)

The Major of St. Lô—A classic of the Normandy invasion, an unforgettable true story of quiet heroism. (Dramatized on TV.)

These and other factual accounts are moving documents of crisis: of courage against the sudden fact of very possible death.