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The Story of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Eight years ago, an old man told me a story that took my breath away. His name was Louie Zamperini, and from the day I first spoke to him, his almost incomprehensibly dramatic life was my obsession.
It was a horse--the subject of my first book, Seabiscuit: An American Legend--who led me to Louie. As I researched the Depression-era racehorse, I kept coming across stories about Louie, a 1930s track star who endured an amazing odyssey in World War II. I knew only a little about him then, but I couldn’t shake him from my mind. After I finished Seabiscuit, I tracked Louie down, called him and asked about his life. For the next hour, he had me transfixed.
Growing up in California in the 1920s, Louie was a hellraiser, stealing everything edible that he could carry, staging elaborate pranks, getting in fistfights, and bedeviling the local police. But as a teenager, he emerged as one of the greatest runners America had ever seen, competing at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he put on a sensational performance, crossed paths with Hitler, and stole a German flag right off the Reich Chancellery. He was preparing for the 1940 Olympics, and closing in on the fabled four-minute mile, when World War II began. Louie joined the Army Air Corps, becoming a bombardier. Stationed on Oahu, he survived harrowing combat, including an epic air battle that ended when his plane crash-landed, some six hundred holes in its fuselage and half the crew seriously wounded.
On a May afternoon in 1943, Louie took off on a search mission for a lost plane. Somewhere over the Pacific, the engines on his bomber failed. The plane plummeted into the sea, leaving Louie and two other men stranded on a tiny raft. Drifting for weeks and thousands of miles, they endured starvation and desperate thirst, sharks that leapt aboard the raft, trying to drag them off, a machine-gun attack from a Japanese bomber, and a typhoon with waves some forty feet high. At last, they spotted an island. As they rowed toward it, unbeknownst to them, a Japanese military boat was lurking nearby. Louie’s journey had only just begun.
That first conversation with Louie was a pivot point in my life. Fascinated by his experiences, and the mystery of how a man could overcome so much, I began a seven-year journey through his story. I found it in diaries, letters and unpublished memoirs; in the memories of his family and friends, fellow Olympians, former American airmen and Japanese veterans; in forgotten papers in archives as far-flung as Oslo and Canberra. Along the way, there were staggering surprises, and Louie’s unlikely, inspiring story came alive for me. It is a tale of daring, defiance, persistence, ingenuity, and the ferocious will of a man who refused to be broken.
The culmination of my journey is my new book, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. I hope you are as spellbound by Louie’s life as I am.
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Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780007580576
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. The incredible true story of Louis Zamperini, now a major motion picture directed by Angelina Jolie. THE INTERNATIONAL NUMBER ONE BESTSELLERIn 1943 a bomber crashes into the Pacific Ocean. Against all odds, one young lieutenant survives. Louis Zamperini had already transformed himself from child delinquent to prodigious athlete, running in the Berlin Olympics. Now he must embark on one of the Second World Wars most extraordinary odysseys. Zamperini faces thousands of miles of open ocean on a failing raft. Beyond like only greater trials, in Japans prisoner-of-war camps.Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperinis destiny, whether triumph or tragedy, depends on the strength of his will Now a major motion picture, directed by Angelina Jolie and starring Jack O Connell. The incredible true story of Louis Zamperini, now a major motion picture directed by Angelina Jolie. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780007580576
Book Description Condition: New. pp. 528. Seller Inventory # 322566803
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9780007580576
Book Description Softcover. Condition: New. On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared. Only one crew member survived: a young lieutenant named Louis Zamperini. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War, as Zamperini is driven to the limits of endurance. Seller Inventory # DADAX0007580576
Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. The incredible true story of Louis Zamperini, now a major motion picture directed by Angelina Jolie. Seller Inventory # B9780007580576
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. BRAND NEW ** SUPER FAST SHIPPING FROM UK WAREHOUSE ** 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. Seller Inventory # 9780007580576-GDR
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __0007580576
Book Description Condition: New. The incredible true story of Louis Zamperini, now a major motion picture directed by Angelina Jolie. Num Pages: 528 pages, illustrations (black and white), map (black and white). BIC Classification: 1FP; 3JJH; BTM; BTP; JWXR. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 129 x 197 x 33. Weight in Grams: 372. . 2014. Film tie-in edition. Paperback. . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780007580576