Tinkertown: A Wheatfield, an Airbase, and Us tells the unique story of the founding and first three decades of both Tinker AFB and Midwest City, Oklahoma, and the role its founder, W.P. "Bill" Atkinson played in harvesting a city out of cropland in But it is also a human drama, told through the eyes of the author and his friends who grew up there in the early years from the 1940s to the 1970s. It is an anecdote driven story that addresses a key question in life: How much of who I am is where I'm from? The story of both the base and the city are brought up to the present day in the final two chapters.

Jim Willis is a veteran journalist and author of 18 books. He grew up in the town he writes about here, and he holds the PhD in journalism from the University of Missouri.