KENNETH M LATTA

20 booksHistorical FictionNon-FictionThriller

Kenneth M. Latta is a dedicated military historian and Bible researcher and teacher specializing in the human realities of motorcycle encounters with Christian believers and non-believers through the eyes of a 20-year Navy Intelligence Officer/HUMINT Analyst. Drawing upon archival manifests, Biblical studies, and real-life events, Latta brings historical truths to light with meticulous rigor and empathetic storytelling. When he is not scouring regional archives or walking historic battlefields, Kenneth enjoys lecturing at local historical societies and exploring the Southern backcountry and speaking to many veterans. An avid Harley Trike rider, he and his wife Barbara routinely spend motorcycle road trips through the southeast United States. Dustoff: Wings of Mercy in the Vietnam Jungle is his latest project.

Books

Dustoff: Wings of Mercy in the Vietnam Jungle

Dustoff: Wings of Mercy in the Vietnam Jungle

Huey medevac crews who flew unarmed into the fire of Vietnam

Historical Fiction
Non-Fiction
Thriller

April 1962. Five UH-1 Hueys land in South Vietnam with a radical order: fly into the fight, unarmed, and bring the wounded out alive. They take the call sign Dustoff. Captain Tom Bradley, medic Frank Conners, and crew chief Ray Henderson learn what thirty minutes really costs when the LZ is a hole in triple-canopy jungle and the airframe is already leaking. Commanders want the ships for guns and cargo. Bradley and Lt. Col. Dan Sullivan hold the red cross like a last law. Monsoons erase the treetops. Small-arms fire walks the cabin. Blood and turbine oil mix on the floor while Conners tries to keep a man from emptying out. Dustoff is the story of the crews who rewrote battlefield medicine under fire—and of the minds that almost did not come home with the bodies they saved.

Adventures with Doofus

Adventures with Doofus

Weekends with Grandpa turn stress into pancakes, jokes, and real courage

Child Books

Eleven-year-old Keira Latta is an honor-roll cheerleader who never quite feels good enough. Between advanced classes, a demanding squad, and her mom Lisa pushing for perfect scores and spotless routines, the pressure never lets up. The only place Keira can breathe is at her grandparents' house on weekends, where Doofus Latta wears mismatched hats, tells terrible dad jokes, and turns chores into comedy. Mimi watches the chaos with warm laughter. Dad, Kenny, works long hospital shifts and still makes time to cheer her on. When a big cheer showcase and a science competition collide, Keira will not give up her goofy haven. A pancake disaster, a scare, and a threatened ban force her onto the mat with a team routine that almost falls apart. Then she remembers Doofus: mistakes are allowed. He even shows up in an unforgettable disguise. Adventures with Doofus is a funny, tender chapter book about family, humor, and learning that joy can make you stronger.

Plateau of Shadows

Plateau of Shadows

Cut off behind enemy lines, a Navy SEAL fights the jungle and the hunters

Adventure
Thriller
Historical Fiction

An artillery ambush rips through a reconnaissance patrol in Vietnam's Central Highlands. Navy SEAL Petty Officer Steven Gregory is thrown clear, alive, and alone. His radio is wrecked. His leg is torn. Search parties are already in the undergrowth. Captain Quang Trai of the North Vietnamese Army wants more than a prisoner. He wants the classified papers Steven still carries, and he sends seasoned trackers to close the net before any American rescue can form. Steven moves by instinct and by the hard voice of a mentor who taught him never to panic. A Rhade Montagnard guerrilla named Rung Moi knows mountain trails that do not appear on any map. Together they use caves, monsoon, and crude traps while a Huey gunner at Pleiku refuses to stop listening for a dead team's transponder. Plateau of Shadows is a relentless survival thriller about a lone operator, a tightening cordon, and the last ridge that might still reach American air.

Flint River Defenses: Skirmishes, Camps, and the Double Bridges Engagement 1865

Flint River Defenses: Skirmishes, Camps, and the Double Bridges Engagement 1865

The Desperate Final Stand and Resilience Along Georgia's Flint River

Non-Fiction
Historical Fiction

Spring 1865: the Confederacy is crumbling, but along Georgia's Flint River corridor between Griffin and Thomaston, the war is far from over. Major Silas Holcomb commands an exhausted, ragged cavalry detachment tasked with holding the vital river crossings against overwhelming Union forces. Starving, outmatched, and depleted by winter floods, the defenders face an inevitable clash when Federal cavalry sweeps eastward with devastating firepower. Yet the battle for Double Bridges is only part of the struggle. Depot manager Emily Glover risks everything to record the predatory impressments stripping the valley of its last sustenance, guarding community ledgers that hold the future of local families. Beside her, civilian healer Mary Barrow fights gangrene, exposure, and a catastrophic lack of supplies to save freezing conscripts and desperate civilians alike. When the span at Double Bridges is detonated in a harrowing delaying action, the survivors are thrust into the chaotic dawn of occupation. Flint River Defenses reveals the untold human cost of the Civil War's closing weeks—a gripping chronicle of tactical desperation, steadfast endurance, and the unyielding fight to rebuild from the ashes of defeat.

Pews, Potlucks, and Preacher Typos

Pews, Potlucks, and Preacher Typos

Finding noisy, imperfect grace through church bulletin blunders, kitchen squabbles, and second chances

Literary Fiction

Welcome to Mount Gilead Church, where sanctification happens one minor catastrophe at a time. Between jammed copiers churning out inadvertently scandalous bulletins, a temperamental basement furnace that groans like a dying beast, and passing poultry trucks scrambling the outdoor marquee letters, the pastor of this small Southern flock has his hands full. Add matriarch Granny Horton patrolling the potluck line to enforce strict mayonnaise doctrines, and simply getting through Sunday morning service feels like a miracle. When town outcast Bunco Potts gets caught siphoning gas in the gravel parking lot, righteous outrage threatens to derail the fellowship. But instead of calling the sheriff, Mount Gilead chooses an unconventional, messy path of hospitality. Handed a ladder, a plate of yeast rolls, and honest work alongside folks wrestling with their own quiet heartaches, Bunco discovers that forgiveness does not always arrive quietly in clean pews. Pews, Potlucks, and Preacher Typos is a charming, tenderhearted, and riotously funny portrait of community life that shows redemption is best served with plenty of grace and warm homemade pie.

Out of the Depths: The Sign of Jonah and the Resurrection of Christ

Out of the Depths: The Sign of Jonah and the Resurrection of Christ

Unveiling Biblical Typology from the Belly of Sheol to the Empty Tomb

Religion & Spirituality

When Jesus was pressed for a miraculous sign to authenticate His divine mission, He offered only one: the sign of the prophet Jonah. For generations, the tale of Jonah has been relegated to Sunday school flannelgraphs and simplified morality tales. Yet hidden beneath the familiar story of a runaway prophet and a great fish lies the profound theological blueprint for the central event of the Christian faith—the Passion and physical Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Out of the Depths, biblical scholar Kenneth M. Latta guides readers through an illuminating comparative exploration of the Old and New Testaments. Contrasting rich texts from the King James Version and the New International Version, this study unpacks the deep linguistic and thematic connections between the terrifying abyss of Sheol and the silent garden tomb. Discover how Jonah's descent into chaotic waters mirrors Christ's voluntary humiliation, and how a cry from the deep anticipates triumphant deliverance. More than an academic exposition, Out of the Depths bridges canonical typology with heartfelt pastoral wisdom. It empowers believers to navigate their own trials, offering steadfast hope anchored in the certainty of the risen Savior.

The Supreme Court of Heaven: God's Eternal Law, the Cross, and the Final Verdict

The Supreme Court of Heaven: God's Eternal Law, the Cross, and the Final Verdict

Unveiling Divine Jurisprudence, Cosmic Treason, and the Legal Power of the Atoning Blood

Religion & Spirituality
Educational & Academic

Before the foundation of the world, a supreme legal decree was established. When Lucifer committed cosmic treason and deceived mankind in Eden, divine justice demanded a lawful resolution. In The Supreme Court of Heaven, author Kenneth M. Latta meticulously traces God's redemptive plan through the lens of divine jurisprudence, using the King James Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Far from being merely a tragic execution or an emotional gesture, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was an absolute legal necessity—a flawless penal substitution that permanently satisfied holy statutes and nullified the adversary's prosecutorial claims. Journey through the celestial courtroom where Christ stands as our eternal Advocate and the Holy Spirit serves as Counselor. Uncover the covert warfare of the demonic kingdom, explore the legal boundaries of spiritual conflict, and prepare for Christ's triumphant physical return to reign in Jerusalem. From the ancient ordinances of Mount Sinai to the final, irrevocable verdicts of the Great White Throne Judgment, this definitive work provides an unshakeable theological foundation for scholars, pastors, and believers alike. Step into the courtroom of eternity and witness the majesty of God's perfect justice.

The Archival Blood

The Archival Blood

Some cases make a career. Others demand blood to stay buried.

Mystery
Thriller
Literary Fiction

Legendary homicide detective Thomas Soto solved impossible cases for thirty years. But when he is found brutally murdered in his private study, the crime scene tells a horrifying story: decades of confidential dossiers strewn across the floor, and one vital case file violently missing. Local authorities dismiss the slaying as a chaotic home invasion gone wrong. Investigative journalist Martha Soto knows better. Returning to her hometown of Blackwood Creek to bury her father, Martha refuses to let his murder become another cold case. Teaming up with Donald Keen—the newly elected sheriff and her former flame—Martha plunges into her father's private, encrypted journals. What she discovers will shatter her family's legacy: her father's greatest career triumph was built on a catastrophic lie. As the past bleeds into the present, Martha realizes the true killer isn't just covering their tracks—they are watching her every move. In a town where justice is bought and power protects its own, unearthing the truth might just cost Martha the one thing she has left: her life. A gripping, atmospheric mystery about grief, legacy, and the lethal cost of the truth.

Badlands Escape

Badlands Escape

One deadly mistake in the badlands ignites an unforgiving fight for survival

Thriller
Crime Fiction
Adventure

A dream retirement tour across the American West transforms into a waking nightmare when retired SWAT sergeant Denny James and his wife, trauma nurse Anna, are ambushed in the scorched badlands. Targeted in a lethal case of mistaken identity, a ruthless drug cartel marks them as couriers who stole a fortune in cryptocurrency. With their touring motorcycle destroyed, comms severed, and heavily armed hit squads closing in, the couple is stranded in hundreds of miles of merciless desert canyons. To survive, Denny must tap into decades of tactical urban combat, while Anna uses sharp field triage and nerves of steel to treat catastrophic wounds under fire. But fleeing across sandstone cliffs without water can only last so long. As relentless cartel hunters tighten the dragnet, Denny and Anna realize survival demands more than endurance—it requires an all-out guerrilla counteroffensive. In a desolate terrain where every shadow hides a sniper, one devoted couple must rely on unmatched skill, frontier grit, and their unbreakable bond to wage an impossible war. From Kenneth M. Latta comes a relentless, heart-pounding survival thriller about loyalty, lethal tactics, and the price of defending the life you built.

Cold Harbor to the James

Cold Harbor to the James

Blood, Entrenchment, and the Daring Crossing That Redefined the American Civil War

Non-Fiction
Historical Fiction

In the sweltering heat of June 1864, the dusty Virginia crossroads of Cold Harbor became the stage for one of the deadliest confrontations of the Civil War. Within a matter of minutes, thousands of Union soldiers fell before impregnable Confederate earthworks, leaving behind a horrifying stalemate that shocked both armies to their core. Yet the bloody tactical repulse at Cold Harbor was only half the story. Faced with catastrophic losses and an unyielding foe outside Richmond, Federal commanders executed one of the most audacious logistical gambles in military history. Under the cover of total darkness, an entire army vanished from the trenches, marching southward to construct a monumental 2,100-foot pontoon bridge across the tidal waters of the James River. In Cold Harbor to the James, historian Kenneth M. Latta masterfully chronicles the human drama and operational brilliance of this pivotal turning point. Through vivid battlefield accounts, devastating tactical failures, and a stealthy river crossing that completely outmaneuvered Confederate leadership, this gripping narrative reveals how an undeniable disaster transformed into the strategic prelude to the siege of Petersburg.

Low Water on the Red River

Low Water on the Red River

The Disastrous 1864 Civil War Campaign That Defied the Odds

Non-Fiction
Historical Fiction

In the spring of 1864, the Union military launched an audacious combined expedition up Louisiana’s winding Red River. The prize was immense: seize Shreveport, conquer Texas, and seize millions of dollars in southern cotton. Led by General Nathaniel Banks and supported by Admiral David Dixon Porter's formidable fleet of ironclad gunboats, the invasion seemed destined for swift triumph. Instead, it became one of the Civil War’s greatest military fiascos. Confronting the federal juggernaut was Confederate General Richard Taylor, who rallied an exhausted, shoeless, and outmatched force against overwhelming odds. But as Banks blundered into deep pine forests and away from naval support, Taylor delivered a crushing ambush at Mansfield that shattered the northern advance. Nature proved just as unforgiving. Trapped above shallow limestone rapids by falling currents, Porter's multi-million-dollar fleet faced outright capture or burning until an ingenious frontier engineer orchestrated an unprecedented rescue. From starving homesteaders to desperate soldiers marching into the swampy mire, Kenneth M. Latta chronicles a visceral, unforgettable portrait of survival, tactical brilliance, and the slow, inevitable collapse of the southern cause.

Glimpses of the Celestial Realm: Biblical Truth and Modern Visions of Eternity

Glimpses of the Celestial Realm: Biblical Truth and Modern Visions of Eternity

Biblical Truth and Modern Visions of Hope Beyond the Veil

Non-Fiction
FICTION
Literary Fiction

When sudden tragedy claims his young daughter, landscape architect Ernest Russell is plunged into an abyss of sorrow that threatens to shatter his marriage and his faith. His wife, Helen, bears her agony behind a stoic shield, silently wrestling with deep spiritual despair. Everything changes when a sudden heart attack strikes Ernest, pulling his soul across the boundary of mortality into the celestial realm. Guided by an angelic presence through breathtaking meadows of living light and crystalline streams, Ernest glimpses the boundless reality of eternal restoration. When he is called back to his earthly body, he returns carrying vivid memories that modern medicine cannot fathom—and hidden truths he could never have naturally known. Anchored by the timeless wisdom of a retired hospice chaplain and tested against the enduring promises of Scripture, Ernest and Helen embark on a transformative journey. Together, they confront sorrow, examine visions of the afterlife, and discover a redemptive truth: death is not an end, but a doorway to divine glory. Glimpses of the Celestial Realm weaves theological depth with profound narrative resonance, offering timeless comfort, biblical illumination, and unwavering hope to anyone navigating the shadow of loss.

A Prophet Like Unto Moses: Typology in the King James Scripture

A Prophet Like Unto Moses: Typology in the King James Scripture

Unveiling the Divine Blueprint Connecting Moses and the Messiah

Religion & Spirituality

Centuries before Christ walked the dusty roads of Judea, Moses declared a pivotal prophecy recorded in Deuteronomy: God would raise up a Prophet like unto him. Was this declaration merely a distant hope, or the precise architectural blueprint for redemption? In this forensic and historical examination of the King James Scripture, researchers Hannah Parrish and Rebecca Stark retrace the ancient trails connecting Moses and Jesus. Beginning with miraculous escapes from royal decrees of infanticide in Egypt and Bethlehem, an astonishing pattern emerges. From the wilderness fasting's to the majestic transformation of ancient law into an everlasting covenant of grace, every major epoch in the life of Moses serves as a prophetic shadow cast forward across time. Through meticulous cross-examination of Exodus, the Gospels, and apostolic testimonies from Peter and Paul, this study proves that history did not unfold by chance. With compelling clarity and reverent scholarship, Kenneth M. Latta demonstrates how the ancient lawgiver pointed directly to the Messiah. Discover the profound typological harmony woven through sacred writ and witness the sovereign realization of redemptive history.

Prophecy, Fulfillment, and the Eternal Throne

Prophecy, Fulfillment, and the Eternal Throne

One covenant story from Genesis to Revelation, crowned in Christ

Non-Fiction
BIBLICAL TRUTHS

Scripture is not a scrapbook of disconnected sayings. It is a single, rising testimony. From the first promise in Genesis to the last vision in Revelation, The Bible follows the prophetic thread that binds covenant, history, and hope. Ancient messianic oracles, the oaths to Abraham and David, and the gospel records of Jesus’s life, atonement, and resurrection are set side by side until the pattern is impossible to miss. Christ as promised Savior and divine Son of God. An investigative team led by biblical archaeologist Florence Patterson—joined by George Palmer, Elizabeth Morris, and Dorothy Gibson—tests manuscripts, archaeology, and the Dead Sea Scrolls against centuries of skepticism. Secular historian Albert Chambers insists the prophecies were written after the fact as propaganda. The evidence, the team argues, will not bend. What emerges is a structural unity no materialist timeline can explain: apocalyptic visions that lock into Revelation, and a King who returns to establish an everlasting kingdom of peace and righteousness. This is a systematic defense of the Bible as one divinely inspired master narrative—and of the eternal throne at its center. BLE

Below Thirty

Below Thirty

In the frozen Alaskan interior, the cold kills fast—the predators kill faster.

Adventure
Thriller
Horror

Thirty degrees below zero is where steel shatters, breath turns to ice, and survival becomes a violent test of will. When bush pilot Kurt Bannon crash-lands his Cessna Caravan deep into the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness, surviving the impact is only the beginning. Trapped miles from civilization with cracked ribs, dwindling rations, a .44 Magnum, and a .308 rifle, Kurt must turn the wreckage of his plane into a makeshift fortress against the Arctic elements. But the sub-zero blizzard isn't the only deadly force stalking the tundra. A starving pack of wolves and an aggressive rogue grizzly bear have picked up his blood trail across the snow. As battery power drains from his emergency beacon and radio, Kurt's chances of rescue slip away by the hour. Hundreds of miles away, a desperate search team mobilizes, battling zero-visibility skies and avalanche corridors to track him down. To survive the long Arctic night, Kurt must rely on raw grit and deadly instincts before the wilderness claims him completely.

Silver, Lead, and Bone

Silver, Lead, and Bone

In a frontier built on greed, justice is paid in blood

Western
Historical Fiction
Crime Fiction

Winter 1880. In the boomtown of Oakhaven, silver brings fortune to a ruthless few and unmarked graves to everyone else. When cholera strikes the squalid mining camps and municipal corruption rots the settlement from within, veteran Marshal Henry Puckett fights an uphill battle to keep the peace. Then cold-blooded outlaw Benjamin Blythe stages a bloody jailbreak. Leaving slaughtered guards in his wake, Blythe vanishes into the blizzard-swept badlands to recover a buried fortune in bullion and slaughter those who put him in irons. Pursued by Marshal Puckett and a hardened plains scout, the manhunt cuts across treacherous mountain terrain and bullet-riddled cattle ranges. Back in town, a courageous saloon keeper and an embattled clinic doctor uncover a sinister conspiracy: a powerful syndicate is poisoning the water supply to crush independent homesteaders. Caught between treacherous frontier terrain, ambush by outlaws, and venomous civic treason, Puckett must wage an all-out war before Oakhaven collapses into ruin. Silver, Lead, and Bone is a gritty, relentless Western epic of vengeance, survival, and the raw price of frontier justice.

Beneath the Java Reef

Beneath the Java Reef

Beneath hostile waters lies the secret that could win a world war

Historical Fiction
Thriller
Adventure

Java Sea, 1942. When an Allied cargo ship is torpedoed and dragged into the abyss, it takes vital naval cipher machines down into the reef. Merchant Marine officer Gordon Bancroft and four battered survivors wash ashore on a razor-sharp coral atoll, only to discover it is occupied by an enemy garrison commanded by the ruthless Vincent Sallis. Sallis knows the wreck holds the key to Allied naval intelligence, and he will exterminate every survivor to claim it. Hidden inside a submerged sea cave, Bancroft's crew repairs an obsolete diving suit and makeshift compressor. Forty feet below the surface, Bancroft braves crushing nitrogen narcosis, razor coral surges, and patrolling sharks to retrieve the codebooks before enemy combat swimmers reach the flooded compartments. With their motor launch barely seaworthy and time running out, Bancroft and his men must wage a desperate, two-front war—one in the sunlit terror of the occupied island, and the other in the suffocating darkness of the deep. Failure means the collapse of Allied codes across the Pacific. Survival means plunging back into the black.

Iron and Murky Depths

Iron and Murky Depths

Beneath the tide of war lies the birth of modern naval combat

Historical Fiction
Adventure
Literary Fiction

Charleston Harbor, 1864. A suffocating Union naval blockade tightens around the starving Southern coast. With conventional fleets outmatched, machinist Caleb Garrison steps forward to command an unprecedented, desperate weapon: an experimental hand-cranked iron submarine. Every descent into the murky harbor is a gamble with death. Preceding crews have already drowned in the suffocating dark, yet Caleb and his steadfast crankmen plunge beneath the freezing black tides. On shore, brilliant draftsman Sarah Lancaster races to perfect volatile spar torpedo triggers, knowing a single mechanical flaw spells instant doom. As Union warships blanket the surface with searchlights and deadly drag nets, the crew must overcome crippling claustrophobia, failing valves, and catastrophic leaks. Driven by duty and sheer survival, they prepare for a harrowing midnight sortie against an armored behemoth that will either shatter the blockade or bury them forever. Iron and Murky Depths is a gripping, pulse-pounding historical epic of brotherhood, raw grit, and the perilous dawn of submarine warfare.

Brown Water Patrol

Brown Water Patrol

Courage, Brotherhood, and Deadly Ambush in the Murky Waters of the Mekong Delta

Adventure
Historical Fiction

Deep in the treacherous waterways of the Mekong Delta, danger lurks beneath every murky ripple. During the height of the Vietnam War, young Navy coxswain Kenny Jackson takes command of a patrol boat operating in the perilous brown water tributaries. Alongside a battle-hardened Chief Petty Officer, a sharp-eyed gunner, and a dependable mechanic, Kenny navigates suffocating mangrove channels rife with hidden rocket ambushes, lethal canal traps, and submerged mines. When a catastrophic ambush leaves their craft dead in the water and burning, the four sailors must rely on split-second instincts, heavy firepower, and unshakable brotherhood to survive against relentless odds. Brown Water Patrol brings to life the harrowing reality of riverine warfare, capturing the raw chaos, relentless courage, and unbreakable bonds of the men who fought the river war.

Behind the Stockade: Cruelty, Graft, and Survival in Georgia's Civil War Prisons

Behind the Stockade: Cruelty, Graft, and Survival in Georgia's Civil War Prisons

The Gripping True Reckoning of Corruption, Terror, and Resilience in Wartime Captivity

Historical Fiction
military
Crime Fiction

Behind the towering timber walls of Georgia's Civil War stockades, a battle for humanity raged in silence. In 1864, tens of thousands of Union soldiers entered overcrowded Confederate open-air pens where starvation, exposure, and disease claimed lives by the thousands. Yet the deadliest threats were not merely structural neglect. Predatory gangs of fellow captives known as 'Raiders' terrorized the prison yard, while corrupt quartermasters siphoned away vital medical rations and supplies to build personal fortunes on the civilian black market. Through meticulous historical detail and vivid narrative drive, Behind the Stockade chronicles the harrowing struggle of the men who dared to fight back. From the formation of captive police forces to the clandestine bookkeeping that preserved stolen supply manifests and death registers, Kenneth M. Latta exposes the systemic graft and extraordinary resilience that defined wartime captivity. Authoritative, immersive, and deeply moving, this definitive work unveils the raw reality of prison life and the heroic triumph of justice when the Confederacy collapsed.