In the 1980's, Etkin's book was the classic on "Flight Dynamics", or as the field was called then, "Aircraft Stability and Control". This classic was the 2nd edition, but ever since 1995 the 3d edition is by far the better choice.
See the separate page on Etkin editions.
Etkin was a professor at UTIAS in Toronto, a known center of excellence in flight simulation at that time.
There was a line of descendancy in Toronto, from Etkin to Reid, then to Nahon and Kirdeikis, and later to Advani, in motion cueing algorithms for flight simulation. I think this inspired the work in Delft on high quality motion systems with hydrostatic bearings, which was the big next thing in flight simulation when I studied there.
Try out the tabs for background information on the books, especially the 3d edition, and how best to use them.
Etkin's third edition is as good a book as any I know on the non-trivial subject of aircraft "stabilty and control". But it may be useful to have someone additional comments to go with it.