Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Laura Hillenbrand

Random House Publishing Group, Nov 16, 2010 - Biography & Autobiography - 528 pages

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more.

In boyhood, Louis Zamperini was an incorrigible delinquent. As a teenager, he channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics. But when World War II began, the athlete became an airman, embarking on a journey that led to a doomed flight on a May afternoon in 1943. When his Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, against all odds, Zamperini survived, adrift on a foundering life raft. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.
 
Unbroken is an unforgettable testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit, brought vividly to life by Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand.

Hailed as the top nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography and the Indies Choice Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year award
 
“Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic.”—The Wall Street Journal
 
“[A] one-in-a-billion story . . . designed to wrench from self-respecting critics all the blurby adjectives we normally try to avoid: It is amazing, unforgettable, gripping, harrowing, chilling, and inspiring.”—New York
 
“Staggering . . . mesmerizing . . . Hillenbrand’s writing is so ferociously cinematic, the events she describes so incredible, you don’t dare take your eyes off the page.”—People
 
“A meticulous, soaring and beautifully written account of an extraordinary life.”—The Washington Post
 
“Ambitious and powerful . . . a startling narrative and an inspirational book.”—The New York Times Book Review
 
“Magnificent . . . incredible . . . [Hillenbrand] has crafted another masterful blend of sports, history and overcoming terrific odds; this is biography taken to the nth degree, a chronicle of a remarkable life lived through extraordinary times.”—The Dallas Morning News
 
“An astonishing testament to the superhuman power of tenacity.”—Entertainment Weekly
 
“A tale of triumph and redemption . . . astonishingly detailed.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
 
“[A] masterfully told true story . . . nothing less than a marvel.”—Washingtonian
 
“[Hillenbrand tells this] story with cool elegance but at a thrilling sprinter’s pace.”—Time
 
“Hillenbrand [is] one of our best writers of narrative history. You don’t have to be a sports fan or a war-history buff to devour this book—you just have to love great storytelling.”—Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

What people are saying

Gift Purchase

User Review  - elizabeth f. - Overstock.com

Reasonable price. After hearing good things about this story I got as gift for my mother and she really enjoyed reading it. Would recommend and a hardcover is nice for rereading!

Review: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

User Review  - Goodreads

My word, what a book. I have yet to read a biography that has moved me so emotionally as Unbroken has. I've seen countless films, heard numerous songs, and read dozens of books dealing with the ...

Contents

• The OneBoy Insurgency: 3
• Run Like Mad: 13
• The Torrance Tornado: 19
• Plundering Germany: 28
• Into War: 38
• The Flying Coffin: 51
• This Is It Boys: 66
• Only the Laundry Knew How Scared I Was: 78
• Five Hundred and Ninetyfour Holes: 91
• I2 Downed: 125
• Missing at: 131
• I4 Thirst I4 I: 141
• Sharks and Bullets: 153
• Singing in the Clouds: 160
• Typhoon: 169
• A Dead Body Breathing: 179
• I9 Two Hundred Silent Men: 189
• Farting for Hirohito: 200
• Plots Afoot 2 2: 230
• Madness: 259
• Falling Down: 271
• Enslaved: 277
• Two Hundred and Twenty Punches: 287
• 3o The Boiling City 2 94: 294
• The Naked Stampede: 301
• Cascades of Pink Peaches: 309
• Mothers Day 3 19: 319
• Epilogue: 381
• Acknowledgments: 399
• Notes: 407
• Index: 459

About the author

Laura Hillenbrand is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Seabiscuit: An American Legend, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, won the Book Sense Book of the Year Award and the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, landed on more than fifteen best-of-the-year lists, and inspired the film Seabiscuit, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Hillenbrand’s New Yorker article, “A Sudden Illness,” won the 2004 National Magazine Award, and she is a two-time winner of the Eclipse Award, the highest journalistic honor in Thoroughbred racing. She and actor Gary Sinise are the co-founders of Operation International Children, a charity that provides school supplies to children through American troops. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
• Author: Laura Hillenbrand
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, 2010
• ISBN: 0679603751, 9780679603757
• Length: 528 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Military; Biography & Autobiography / Sports; History / Military / World War II