When their plane is shot down over Africa, two American military pilots endure encounters with bushmen, scorpions, heat, and thirst. But their greatest challenges come after they return to civilian life in the United States, as they attempt to cope with psychological and physical aftershock. Using flight motifs as metaphors for everything from the end to the Cold War to the volatile friendships between men, Terrestrials is vintage Paul West - a majestic novel brimming with profound insights about history, culture, technology, and the nature of human relations.