are modified to make it less visible to enemies in the
air and on the ground.
Impact The F-117 Nighthawk was kept secret from
the public until 1988. When it and the B-2 were re-
vealed that year, such demonstrably next-generation
technology seemed like science fiction come to life.
Had it been developed earlier, such an invisible air-
craft would have represented a major strategic im-
balance in the Cold War between the United States
and the Soviet Union. Because the Cold War was
winding down, however, the new strategic capabili-
ties made possible by stealth technology were less
significant to the nuclear arms race than they would
have been just a few years earlier.
The aircraft flew its first military mission in 1989,
during the U.S. invasion of Panama. Two Night-
hawks dropped two bombs on Rio Hato airfield.
Later, the Nighthawks would gain fame during the
first Persian Gulf War of the early 1990’s.
Further Reading
Jenkins, Dennis R.Lockheed Secret Projects: Inside the
Skunk Works.St. Paul, Minn.: MBI, 2001. Useful
monograph on the Skunk Works unit of Lockheed
Martin.
Pace, Steve.Lockheed Skunk Works. Osceola, Wis.:
Motorbooks International, 1992. Comprehensive
history of the program that developed the F-117
Nighthawk and other U.S. military aircraft.
Rich, Ben R., and Leo Janos.Skunk Works: A Personal
Memoir of My Years at Lockheed. Boston: Little,
Brown, 1994. Ben Rich was the director of the
Skunk Works, and in this memoir of the project,
he discusses the development of the F-117.
Timothy C. Hemmis
See also Cold War; Foreign policy of the United
States; Military spending; Panama invasion; Science
and technology.
Steel, Danielle
Identification Best-selling author of romantic
fiction
Born August 14, 1947; New York, New York
In the 1980’s, Steel’s consistently staggering popularity
made her an unrivaled benchmark of trends in the rapidly
changing romance genre.
Danielle Steel was one of the first authors to move ro-
mantic fiction into a new phase in which the hero-
ines were strong, independent women determined
to find themselves and solve their own problems.
The lives of Steel’s heroines mirrored many of her
own personal experiences, such as divorce, battling
cancer, and difficulties with her children. In an in-
terview, Steel once stated that she liked to create
worlds in which her heroines’ struggles were re-
warded with something she herself had missed out
on—a happy ending.
Steel’s fifth book,The Ring(1980), was her first
hardcover publication. It boasted a more sophisti-
cated look than had her paperbacks, featuring a
glamorous black-and-white photograph of the au-
thor on the back cover. This was a great accomplish-
ment for Steel, who had to push hard to achieve it.
Her publisher, Delacorte (an imprint of Dell), had
felt that the kind of readers who bought Steel’s
books would not pay hardcover prices. Dell finally
agreed to publishThe Ringin hardcover, however,
and Steel’s readers purchased it eagerly.
With millions of books in print and a fan club and
as the subject of numerous interviews, Steel moved
into the next phase of her career. In 1983, she fired
her longtime agent and hired Mort Janklow, one
of the most powerful literary “superagents” in the
country. Janklow was adept at negotiating television
and movie deals for his clients. He also helped Steel
make the transition from romance fiction to con-
temporary fiction. In addition to adult fiction, Steel
also wrote the Max and Martha series of children’s
books, which sought to help young readers face
problems such as attending a new school or losing a
grandparent. She was also one of seven women au-
thors who contributed toHaving a Baby(1984), in
which she described her experience of suffering
through a miscarriage. Extremely organized and fo-
cused, Steel created an elaborate filing system for
keeping her writing on track. She prioritized her
time, often writing well into the night so she could
be available for her children during the day.Impact One of the three best-selling authors of the
decade, Steel left her mark on the publishing indus-
try. Her novels appealed to millions of readers and
opened up the field of romance fiction for many
other women writers. In 1989, Steel held theGuinness
Book of World Recordsrecord for the longest run on the
New York Timesbest seller list: 381 consecutive weeks.The Eighties in America Steel, Danielle 919