Unbroken: A WWII Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
This is the biography of Louis Zamperini, an Italian-American from Southern California who went from high school track star to Olympic runner, shaking hands with Adolf Hitler in Berlin 1936. Written in a narrative non-fiction format, you quickly become entrenched in his life and have to continually remind yourself that what you are reading is a factual retelling. His days as a bombardier in the navy during World War II comes to an abrupt end when he crashes into the Pacific and endures over thirty days stranded on a raft. Surviving shark attacks, volatile storms and lack of food/water, he is “rescued” by the Japanese and tortured in a brutal POW camp.
I commend Hillenbrand for the years she committed to research in order to tell Louie’s story authentically. Through countless hours of interviews with Louie, friends, family, servicemen and even Japanese military veterans, she was able to transport the reader to a truly horrifying part of history. You will marvel at Louie’s strength of character in the darkest days of the war. “I am a man, and no one or thing can break me.”
Now adapted for young adult readers. War stories are even more relevant today. War is ever present in our lives, which makes learning from our past so important.
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