<b><b>#1 <i>NEW YORK TIMES</i> BESTSELLER • <b>SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • </b>Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more.</b><br></b><br>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.<br> <br> Appearing in paperback for the first time—with twenty arresting new photos and an extensive Q&A with the author—<i>Unbroken </i>is an unforgettable testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit, brought vividly to life by <i>Seabiscuit</i> author Laura Hillenbrand.<br><br><b><b>Hailed as the top nonfiction book of the year by <i>Time</i> magazine • Winner of the <i>Los Angeles Times</i> Book Prize for biography and the Indies Choice Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year award</b><br></b> <br> “Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic.”<b>—<i>The Wall Street Journal</i></b><br> <i> </i><br> “[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.”<b><i>—New York</i></b><i> </i><br> <br> “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.”<b>—<i>People</i></b><br> <i> </i><br> “A meticulous, soaring and beautifully written account of an extraordinary life.”<b><i>—The Washington Post</i></b><br> <i> </i><br> “Ambitious and powerful . . . a startling narrative and an inspirational book.”<b><i>—The New York Times Book Review</i></b><br> <b><i> </i></b><br>“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.”<b><i>—The Dallas Morning News</i></b><br> <br> “An astonishing testament to the superhuman power of tenacity.”<b>—<i>Entertainment Weekly</i></b><br> <i> </i><br> “A tale of triumph and redemption . . . astonishingly detailed.”<b>—<i>O: The Oprah Magazine</i></b><br> <i> </i><br> “[A] masterfully told true story . . . nothing less than a marvel.”<b>—<i>Washingtonian</i></b><br> <i> </i><br> “[Hillenbrand tells this] story with cool elegance but at a thrilling sprinter’s pace.”<b><i>—Time</i></b><br> <b><i> </i></b><br> “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.”<b>—Rebecca Skloot, author of<i> The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks</i></b><i><br></i>