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 • The incredible true story of survival and salvation that is the basis for two major motion pictures: Unbroken and Unbroken: Path to Redemption.

“Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic.”—The Wall Street Journal

Hailed as the top nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.

The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown.

Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, 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.

Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man’s journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit.

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
• The Stinking Six: 105
• Nobodys Going to Live Through This: 114
• PART III: 123
• Downed: 125
• Missing at Sea: 131
• Thirst: 141
• Sharks and Bullets: 153
• Singing in the Clouds: 160
• Typhoon: 169
• PART IV: 177
• A Dead Body Breathing: 179
• Two Hundred Silent Men: 189
• Farting for Hirohito: 200
• Belief: 212
• Plots Afoot: 220
• Monster: 230
• Hunted: 239
• B29: 248
• Madness: 259
• Falling Down: 271
• Enslaved: 277
• Two Hundred and Twenty Punches: 287
• The Boiling City: 294
• The Naked Stampede: 301
• Cascades of Pink Peaches: 309
• Mothers Day: 319
• The Shimmering Girl: 333
• Coming Undone: 345
• The Body on the Mountain: 354
• Twisted Ropes: 362
• A Beckoning Whistle: 368
• Daybreak: 377
• 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, unabridged
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, 2010
• ISBN: 0679603751, 9780679603757
• Length: 528 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Military; Biography & Autobiography / Sports; History / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General