"The firefighters profiled in [Medal of Valor Firefighters] are all heroes, although most of them would never describe themselves that way. They know, as I do, that every firefighter across this great nation of ours is a hero whose story remains untold."
--Harold Schaitberger, General President, International Association of Fire Fighters

Since September 11, 2001, the nation's firefighters have been lauded for their courage and selflessness, yet many of their tales remain untold. Medal of Valor Firefighters recounts numerous stories of grace under fire in the words of decorated heroes themselves.

The men and women in this engrossing work, who unflinchingly risked their lives against impossible odds, relate their tales with striking humility. The portraits of courage in this gripping work are fitting tributes to America's bravest.

You'll read heroic, true stories from around the nation such as:

• San Francisco: Beneath a house toppled by the earthquake of 1989, firefighter Gerald Shannon uses a chainsaw to cut his way through a maze of burning rubble and volatile gas lines to rescue a trapped woman.

• Brooklyn: With his faceplate melting and helmet blistering, Captain John Pritchard finds a child in a burning bedroom and grasps her plastic crib--which melts at his touch and cascades down around his arm.

• Atlanta: Dangling under a helicopter on a one-inch nylon rope, firefighter Matthew Moseley performs a daring rescue of a man stranded 225 feet above a burning mill on a crane so hot it has melted the soles of his shoes.

Michael L. Middleton spent twenty-one years with the LAPD, retiring in 1988 as a sergeant. The author of Cop: A True Story, he has appeared on such news shows as "Today," "Nightline," and "Dateline NBC." He lives in Virginia.