We Are Not Afraid: Strength and Courage from the Town That Inspired the #1 Bestseller and Award-Winning Movie - Softcover

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Homer Hickam is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller October Sky (aka Rocket Boys) which received a National Book Critics Circle nomination and was named a New York Times Notable Book of 1998. He is the author of the "Coalwood Trilogy" (October Sky, The Coalwood Way and Sky of Stone), Back to the Moon and Torpedo Junction. He is also a decorated Vietnam combat veteran, retired NASA engineer, an Olympic torch-bearer, and the holder of Alabama's highest award for heroism. He lives with his wife in Huntsville, Alabama. Click here to visit Homer Hickam's website.

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Why You Should Read This Book

In today's world, fear seems to be everywhere. Sometimes it's an immediate fear caused by a sense of imminent danger. When terrible things happen before our eyes, instant fear is a normal reaction. Our minds are designed to dredge up fear in such times so that adrenaline will spurt through our veins and our heart rates will speed up. That gets us ready to escape or fight. This is a good, rational kind of fear that is meant to be temporary and get us past an immediate crisis.

The problem is that there are so many folks in the world today who are always afraid. This was true even before the atrocities of September 11, 2001. Along with fear, dread also seems to have gained a foothold everywhere. Dread is the little voice that keeps whispering to us about all the bad things that might happen. When a constant sense of dread takes over, people start to avoid doing much of anything. It becomes a habit. They're afraid to fly, to travel, to take new jobs, to consider new concepts and ideas. Everyday challenges of life become too much to handle. The joy of living is lost to despair.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, there is little doubt that we Americans live in perilous times. We have real enemies who wish us ill. In fact, some of them would like to kill us and have said so, out loud and in no uncertain terms. That's pretty scary. We also live in an ever-changing world that is often unpleasant and hard to understand. The economy goes from dizzying heights to recession for no reason we can discern, new diseases threaten that can't be cured, politicians manipulate and control us, and our scientists go too far and too fast. Every day, it seems some kind of craziness assaults us. As rational beings, we start to think maybe it would be best to just hunker down and pull the blankets over our heads. Life seems too dangerous and frightening to enjoy. We wonder if we'll ever be happy again. This is the kind of thinking that makes us wide open to letting fear and dread take over our lives.

Dread and fear are really a nasty pair. Once they become a habit, they can be difficult to beat. A lot of times people fall into the habits of fear and dread without even realizing it. Self-pity, being negative, timidity or constant worry are all symptoms of being afraid. So is an inability to hold a family together. There is plenty of speculation as to why so many people have become habitually fearful, not just of war or terrorism or disease, but of simply living. Some say it's because of a pervasive media that constantly bombards us with stories of pain and suffering and evil. Or maybe it's because our new Internet society cuts us off from the realities of life, both good and bad. From wherever it comes, there is no doubt fear is persistent in our land and dread a constant whisper. People have become hooked on being afraid.

If you want to stop being afraid, or if you want to avoid the habits of fear and dread, this book can help by teaching you a philosophy of life that will fill your heart and soul with a sense of well-being and confidence. It is a philosophy that was developed by real people who led good, happy and hearty lives while managing to raise a crop of children who went on to have successful lives of their own. The people who developed and lived this fear-destroying philosophy were the people who raised me. As their example and teachings helped me to be strong and unafraid, my accounts of who they were and what they did can also help you to beat fear and keep dread on the run. They can be the model for the rest of your life.

A few years ago, I wrote about growing up in the little mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia, in a book titled Rocket Boys. It was a huge success, and Universal Studios made a popular movie based on it, calling the film October Sky. Since then, Rocket Boys (its mass-market version is also titled October Sky) has sold nearly a million copies. I followed Rocket Boys with two more bestselling books about life in Coalwood, The Coalwood Way and Sky of Stone. These form what I call the Coalwood trilogy.

When I wrote my books about Coalwood, I only hoped to write good stories to entertain my readers. But since their publication and the making of the movie, I have been humbled by thousands of heartfelt letters and e-mails from people around the world thanking me for the inspiration they've received. I am humbled, mainly because the stories I told reflect not my wisdom but that of the Coalwood of my youth. I am simply the voice of the people who raised me.

Because so many people admire my books and the movie October Sky, I am one of the most requested speakers in the country. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, I sensed a need from audiences to hear about the brave people of my hometown and how they taught me lessons of strength and courage. As a result, hundreds of people came up to me after my speeches and said my stories had helped them work past their fears. They even showed me their notes! Nearly all of them also said I should write a book, one based on the beliefs and attitudes of the people who raised me.

I am not a philosopher. I have no academic degrees in either psychology, or sociology or any other kind of -ology. But I was raised by a wise and steady and strong people who tested their approach to life during good times and bad. It is their wisdom I have to give, not my own. That is why I decided to write this book-so that everyone can have access to their philosophy. Their attitudes sustained them and let them live full, happy lives without fear or dread. Adopting their attitudes as your own can do the same for you. That's why you should read this book.

What was it about Coalwood that caused the development of a way of life that defeated fear? The Coalwood I write about was the one I knew when I was a boy growing up in the 1940s and 1950s. During that time, it might be fairly said that the town always lived during perilous times. At its center sat a deep coal mine, one entered by going straight down a long, narrow, vertical shaft that dropped nearly a thousand feet. It was a dangerous mine that could quickly fill with explosive methane gas and its roof was a jumble of razor-edged rock. Every day, the men of Coalwood entered that mine to dig out coal, an inherently risky proposition. That required courage, but not the kind that men can show in an instant. Coalwood's miners had to figure out how to be brave over a long period of time. The same was true for Coalwood's women. Every day, they sent their husbands off to work the deep coal, knowing very well they might not ever see them again. It is impossible to do that year after year without developing a philosophy of life that defeats fear and puts aside the feelings of constant dread. Coalwood's people figured out how to stop being afraid over the long haul, and this is the wisdom this book seeks to give its readers.

There are a few other things that should be understood about my hometown so that its wisdom makes more sense. During most of its existence, Coalwood was a pure company town. That meant not only the mine was owned by the company but so was everything else-everything! The houses we lived in were company-owned. The company built the roads and the fences. All the stores were company stores. All the adult men in Coalwood worked for the company. The doctor and dentist were company men, their services provided free. The preachers were also company men and since the churches were company-owned, we liked to say we got the low-bid religion. We said that with a grin. Our religion was of our souls and our hearts and our minds, not of any particular denomination. But the point I'm making is that Coalwood and its people were one and the same. The knowledge that everyone is working...