#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 … 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
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Very well written true story showing the worst and the best sides of humanity.
So hard to read at some points but had to finish to learn how this brave man survived along with many other wonderful men and women serving our country.
Very well written and informative true story. The true story of a real war has stayed with me. This book made it real to me where movies and history books never did.
This is an amazing story of what WWII POWs endured. I have a whole new respect for our service men and women after reading this book. If it was written as fiction, you’d put it down half way through and think the author could have made it seem somewhat believable. You wouldn’t think anyone could endure what those men did.
I did not like the book
Real heroes.
Inspirational!!!!
Laura Hkidenbrand is an amazing researcher. If you read Seabiscuit you’re going to appreciate the work she put into this and her writing. It’s a great true story about an American hero of wwII
The author delves into the fascinating life of California man who was an outstanding athlete and who lived through harrowing times during the Pacific arena of WWII.
Wow, hard to imagine having this much courage. True story. The main character was interviewed on 60 minutes not long before he died. Look that up on internet to see the survivor of this tale.
Boring
Unbroken is one of those books that you can’t put down and read quickly because its so good and then when you finally reach the end, you secretly wish there was another thousand pages.
Fantastic book. Well written and a book I would reread.
Phenomenal book.
The captivating story of a man’s unimaginable journey through a very dark time in history, by an author who obviously researched her subject extremely well and brilliantly shares that story. Hard to adequately describe the wide range of thoughts and emotions evoked from the reader. Worth reading again!
The story of a talented athlete who competed in the Olympics and then ended up in the Pacific theater during WWII, plus his life after the war. It’s exciting with sections of the story so compelling the book can’t be put down. It also shows a person dealing with PTSD (before anyone called it that) and the struggle to adjust to living after the …
A story about a real hero, Louis Zamperini. One of the best books I’ve ever read.
Wonderful take for World War II and the life of Louie Zamperini.
One of the very few books that have stayed with me years after I finished reading it.
A true story. I recommend to anyone who likes history.