Leland: It would have been a wonderful life.

By Shane Blakeslee

The yearbook captured a young man on the threshold of his future.

A year later, that future was gone.

In 1949, Leland Blakeslee graduated from Bolivar Central School in Western New York. He was nineteen when he was killed on a frozen ridge near Unsan during the Korean War.

But what if he had lived?

Leland reimagines the life he never got to live. He comes home, attends Cornell, works at NASA, marries and raises a family, and quietly helps power the future through innovation.

Set against the real tragedy of his death, the novel follows the remarkable life that might have been-one shaped by love, service, discovery, and the enduring belief that a single life can change the world.

Blending historical fact with poignant fiction, Leland is a moving tribute to a life interrupted-and to the legacy that might have been.

"It would have been a wonderful life."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FG3BCRT7
• ISBN13: 9798999030900
• Release Date: June 2025
• Publisher: Blakeslee Corporation, Inc.
• Length: 270 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"