An efficient air transport system is critical to countries attaining and sustaining healthy economies in an increasingly interconnected world economy. Competing successfully now means quick shipping over long distances at reasonable rates. Societies also prosper when people from different countries can travel around the world using efficient transport. This volume includes literature surveys and original empirical research examining airline efficiency in the twenty first century. Topics cover airline productivity, sources of airline efficiency, the cost and scope of operations in airline transport; airline productivity for different global regions; methodologies estimating productivity growth and efficiency. Further chapters on sources of airline efficiency examine fuel efficiency differences, efficiency in different stages of production, and the contributions of technological change, mergers, and low-cost carrier competition to efficiency. Chapters on the cost and scope of operations examine all-cargo carrier efficiency, gains from airline/high speed-rail cooperation, and airport economies of scope in passenger and freight operations.

Captured on October 11, 1863, James Riley Weaver, a Union cavalry officer, spent nearly seventeen months in Confederate prisons. Remarkably, Weaver kept a diary that documents 666 consecutive days of his experience, including his cavalry duties, life in a series of prisons throughout the South, and his return to civilian life. It is an unparalleled eyewitness account of a crucial part of our history. Weaver's observations never veer into romanticised descriptions; instead, he describes the "little world" inside each prison and outdoor camp, describing men drawn from "every class of society, high and low, rich and poor, from every country and clime." In addition, Weaver records details about life in the Confederacy that he gleans from visitors, guards, new arrivals, recaptured escapees, Southern newspapers, and even glimpses through windows. As the editors demonstrate, Weaver's diary-keeping provided an outlet for expressing suppressed emotions, ruminating on a seemingly endless confinement that tested his patriotism, religious faith, and will to survive. In the process, he provides not only historically important information but also keen insights into the human condition under adversity.