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Skies to Conquer
In the summer of 2006, the United States Air Force Academy was still reeling from sex abuse scandals and religious controversies of the previous three years. The cadets who entered the academy that year found an institution in search of balance: determined to revive its strongest traditions while tempering the Godlike power of upperclassmen over initiates, that has historically lain at the heart of academy culture.
In Skies to Conquer, Diana Jean Schemo, part of the team that covered the rape scandals of 2003 for The New York Times, returns to the academy for a deeper look, following the cadets of Squadron 13 as they struggle with the intense physical, mental and emotional rigors of military training, navigate the challenges of the changing academy, and take their place in the long blue line.
If you have already read the book, this site offers additional photos, documentation and updates.
Read an excerpt from "Skies to Conquer"
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A Year in the Life: Beast
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Diana Jean Schemo
Diana Jean Schemo is an author and veteran national and foreign correspondent, with more than twenty-five years at the New York Times and the Baltimore Sun. She has covered poverty and child abuse, religion and culture. The Times nominated her coverage of education for a Pulitzer Prize in 2003.
Praise for Skies to Conquer
"Diana Jean Schemo provides a compelling, nuanced, and balanced portrait of life inside the Air Force Academy that raises critical questions about how we are training the next generation of air force officers. ."
— Douglas Frantz, coauthor of The Man from Pakistan
"Skies to Conquer is a terrific, important, beautifully written book. Diana Jean Schemo takes readers deep inside one of the military's most important, if least understood, institutions: the U.S. Air Force Academy."
—Philip Shenon, author of the New York Times bestseller The Commission
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