Laura Hillenbrand
Author of Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
About the Author
Laura Hillenbrand was born in Fairfax, Virginia on May 15, 1967. She studied at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, but was forced to leave before graduation because she contracted chronic fatigue syndrome. She has been writing about history and thoroughbred racing since 1988 and has been a show more contributing writer and editor at Equus magazine since 1989. Her work has appeared in many other publications including The New Yorker, American Heritage, ABC Sports Online, Thoroughbred Times, Talk, and The Backstretch. Her 1998 American Heritage article on Seabiscuit won her an Eclipse Award for outstanding feature article. In 2004, she won the National Magazine Award for the New Yorker article, A Sudden Illness. Her first book Seabiscuit: An American Legend won the Book Sense Nonfiction Book of the Year Award and the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 2001. She served as a consultant on the Universal Pictures movie Seabiscuit, which was based on her book. Her second book, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, a biography of World War II hero Louis Zamperini, was also made into a movie. She was honored by the Turf Publicists of America for her contributions to the sport of thoroughbred racing with the 36th annual Big Sport of Turfdom award, making her just the fifth woman to win the award. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Laura Hillenbrand
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (2010) 14,324 copies, 617 reviews
Unbroken (The Young Adult Adaptation): An Olympian's Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive (2014) 1,083 copies, 16 reviews
War reporting for cowards 2 copies
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Hillenbrand, Laura
- Birthdate
- 1967-05-15
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Kenyon College (BA|1989)
- Occupations
- editor
author
sports journalist - Organizations
- Operation Iraqi Children
Equus - Awards and honors
- Eclipse Award (1998, 2001)
Big Sport of Turfdom Award (2001)
William Hill Sports Book of the Year (2001)
Book Sense Nonfiction Book of the Year Award (2001)
National Magazine Award (2004)
Christopher Award (2011) (show all 8)
Glamour Women of the Year Award (2003)
Perseverance Honors Award (2013) - Short biography
- Laura Hillenbrand (born May 15, 1967) is an American author of books and magazine articles. Her two bestselling nonfiction books, Seabiscuit: An American Legend (2001) and Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (2010), have sold over 13 million copies, and each was adapted for film. Her writing style is distinct from New Journalism, dropping "verbal pyrotechnics" in favor of a stronger focus on the story itself.
Hillenbrand fell ill in college and was unable to complete her degree. She shared that experience in an award-winning essay, A Sudden Illness, published in The New Yorker in 2003. Her books were written while she was disabled by that illness. In a 2014 interview, Bob Schieffer said to Laura Hillenbrand: "To me your story – battling your disease... is as compelling as his (Louis Zamperini's) story." - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Fairfax, Virginia, USA
- Places of residence
- Fairfax, Virginia, USA
Washington, D.C., USA - Map Location
- Virginia, USA
Members
Reviews
This book opens with bombardier, Louis Zamperini, lying on a raft in the Pacific on June 23, 1943. He and three other survivors of a plane crash are starving skeletons after 27 days at sea. Sharks are circling their leaking raft. Suddenly, a plane is spotted. They fire off a flare, only to discover the plane is a Japanese bomber, which begins a strafing run. While reading the first two pages it's impossible to believe this is a true story. Leaving us in stunned suspense, the author takes us show more back to the beginnings of Louis' life.
When we first meet young Louis he seems to be headed in the wrong direction. He spends his early days burglarizing homes, stealing cars, and jumping onto railroad boxcars. While speedily evading the cops, his brother tells him he should join the track team, which eventually leads him to the 1936 Berlin Olympics as the man most likely to break the four minute mile. After Pearl Harbor, Louis joins the Army Air Force, trains as an air bombardier, and flies 37 successful combat missions in a B-24 bomber in the Pacific War against Japan. Then he gets unlucky. Shot down by a Japanese Zero, Louis and his two surviving aircrew ditch amid thousands of miles of empty ocean.
Taken to a Japanese POW camp Louis is beaten and humiliated with appalling regularity by one particular guard, Mitsuhiro Watanabe, nicknamed "the Bird" by the prisoners. As sport he was made to race against Japanese runners. If he won, he was bludgeoned into unconsciousness. A constant round of beatings, abuse, starvation and torture reduces Louis and his companions to skeletal zombies. You will shudder as you read the details of the brutality these men endured. Upon release from the prison camp, Louis returns to home a broken man. His marriage falls apart and he becomes an alcoholic. He can't seem to cope with life, and who can blame him. One day he attends a revival conducted by Billy Graham and turns his life around. While the first and last parts were not as riveting as the POW sections, I am still giving this book 5 stars.
I listened to the audio book which was masterfully read by Edward Hermann. It wasn't an easy book to listen to. The beginning, especially the time stranded at sea, was quite dramatic and fascinating, but once the action switched to the prison camp I wished I had been able to skim over some of the more sadistic actions of the Japanese guards. But then I though that I owed it to Louis to keep listening. All I had to do was listen to his story, while he had to endure it for over two years. While incredibly painful, it's probably one of my very favorite non-fiction books. show less
When we first meet young Louis he seems to be headed in the wrong direction. He spends his early days burglarizing homes, stealing cars, and jumping onto railroad boxcars. While speedily evading the cops, his brother tells him he should join the track team, which eventually leads him to the 1936 Berlin Olympics as the man most likely to break the four minute mile. After Pearl Harbor, Louis joins the Army Air Force, trains as an air bombardier, and flies 37 successful combat missions in a B-24 bomber in the Pacific War against Japan. Then he gets unlucky. Shot down by a Japanese Zero, Louis and his two surviving aircrew ditch amid thousands of miles of empty ocean.
Taken to a Japanese POW camp Louis is beaten and humiliated with appalling regularity by one particular guard, Mitsuhiro Watanabe, nicknamed "the Bird" by the prisoners. As sport he was made to race against Japanese runners. If he won, he was bludgeoned into unconsciousness. A constant round of beatings, abuse, starvation and torture reduces Louis and his companions to skeletal zombies. You will shudder as you read the details of the brutality these men endured. Upon release from the prison camp, Louis returns to home a broken man. His marriage falls apart and he becomes an alcoholic. He can't seem to cope with life, and who can blame him. One day he attends a revival conducted by Billy Graham and turns his life around. While the first and last parts were not as riveting as the POW sections, I am still giving this book 5 stars.
I listened to the audio book which was masterfully read by Edward Hermann. It wasn't an easy book to listen to. The beginning, especially the time stranded at sea, was quite dramatic and fascinating, but once the action switched to the prison camp I wished I had been able to skim over some of the more sadistic actions of the Japanese guards. But then I though that I owed it to Louis to keep listening. All I had to do was listen to his story, while he had to endure it for over two years. While incredibly painful, it's probably one of my very favorite non-fiction books. show less
UNBROKEN by Laura Hillenbrand (author of SEABISCUIT) is nonfiction. I’m afraid many readers will miss this book for that reason. They think nonfiction is dull. But I promise, UNBROKEN is not dull. It’s a can’t-put-it-down book that will keep you up at night.
Louie Zamperini was a track star in the 1930s. He was good enough to go to the 1936 Olympics in Germany, and all expected, with more experience, he would be a medalist in the next Olympic games. Instead, World War II interfered, show more and Louie was drafted into the Army Air Corps.
Then Hillenbrand relates his life as a wartime flier. But Louie’s experiences, even compared with other fliers who saw combat, weren’t typical. Although “war is hell” is true for everyone involved, Louie’s hell was progressively worse. Just when I thought, this is more than a person can take, it got even more hideous.
Somehow, in part because Louie was so physically fit, he kept going. But he wouldn’t have if not for amazing mental strength as well.
If you expect a summary of what happens, I’m sorry. It would be unfair to you. I found the book un-put-downable just because I wasn’t familiar with Louie’s story. I would be doing you a disservice by summarizing the book’s various parts.
Do yourself a favor: don’t read the book flap or other reviews, either, until you’ve read the book yourself.
I can tell you this. UNBROKEN begins with a prologue. Louie and two other men are floating on a rubber raft in the ocean. They’re starving to death and weak when a jet flies low over them. Louie thinks it is American, and they are about to be saved. But it’s not. What happens on that ocean is really bad. But after the prologue and after the story begins with Louie’s early life to his experiences as a runner to the Olympics to the military, it then keeps getting worse.
Even so, I didn’t think this was a depressing book. I’ll admit, sometimes it was hard to read, and, if you’re like me, you may get so caught up in the story you’ll even get a headache at times (although I think mine may have been caused by heat and humidity). I wanted to keep reading because, even though bad kept happening, Louie kept overcoming.
Hillenbrand continues the story after Louie’s military service, and we see his (and others who were with him) ability and inability to cope. We see lives forever changed, often disastrously.
And we also see . . . . Well, I can’t continue without giving away what you should read and not anticipate because of something I said. But hint: I learned some unpleasant facts about Japanese civilians during World War II and after, even to present day.
Although I read slowly, I read a lot. I usually find one, maybe two, books a year that are so wonderful I can’t speak highly enough of them. This is one of those books. show less
Louie Zamperini was a track star in the 1930s. He was good enough to go to the 1936 Olympics in Germany, and all expected, with more experience, he would be a medalist in the next Olympic games. Instead, World War II interfered, show more and Louie was drafted into the Army Air Corps.
Then Hillenbrand relates his life as a wartime flier. But Louie’s experiences, even compared with other fliers who saw combat, weren’t typical. Although “war is hell” is true for everyone involved, Louie’s hell was progressively worse. Just when I thought, this is more than a person can take, it got even more hideous.
Somehow, in part because Louie was so physically fit, he kept going. But he wouldn’t have if not for amazing mental strength as well.
If you expect a summary of what happens, I’m sorry. It would be unfair to you. I found the book un-put-downable just because I wasn’t familiar with Louie’s story. I would be doing you a disservice by summarizing the book’s various parts.
Do yourself a favor: don’t read the book flap or other reviews, either, until you’ve read the book yourself.
I can tell you this. UNBROKEN begins with a prologue. Louie and two other men are floating on a rubber raft in the ocean. They’re starving to death and weak when a jet flies low over them. Louie thinks it is American, and they are about to be saved. But it’s not. What happens on that ocean is really bad. But after the prologue and after the story begins with Louie’s early life to his experiences as a runner to the Olympics to the military, it then keeps getting worse.
Even so, I didn’t think this was a depressing book. I’ll admit, sometimes it was hard to read, and, if you’re like me, you may get so caught up in the story you’ll even get a headache at times (although I think mine may have been caused by heat and humidity). I wanted to keep reading because, even though bad kept happening, Louie kept overcoming.
Hillenbrand continues the story after Louie’s military service, and we see his (and others who were with him) ability and inability to cope. We see lives forever changed, often disastrously.
And we also see . . . . Well, I can’t continue without giving away what you should read and not anticipate because of something I said. But hint: I learned some unpleasant facts about Japanese civilians during World War II and after, even to present day.
Although I read slowly, I read a lot. I usually find one, maybe two, books a year that are so wonderful I can’t speak highly enough of them. This is one of those books. show less
Louie Zamperini began life as a fleet-footed juvenile delinquent. After a healthy nudge from his older brother, he finds himself in high school track and is quickly smashing state records and suddenly qualifies for the 1936 Olympics. He performs honorably, with his sights firmly on the ‘40 Olympics and then World War II intrudes and Louie finds himself in the Air Corps. He becomes a bombardier and in ’43 his B-24 plane crashes into the Pacific, stranding him and two others, on a skimpy show more life-raft, for over forty days. Finally, rescue comes but from the Japanese Navy. Off to a hellish POW camp.
This amazing story finds Louie battling sharks, sadistic inhuman prison guards, starvation and later, alcoholism. Somehow this man continues to survive.
Hillenbrand came on the scene in 2002 ,with a little book called “Seabiscuit”, not only introducing us to a wonderful racehorse but giving the non-fiction world a real boost. She does it again here, with her irresistible narrative style and sharp eye for detail. Another winner all the way! show less
This amazing story finds Louie battling sharks, sadistic inhuman prison guards, starvation and later, alcoholism. Somehow this man continues to survive.
Hillenbrand came on the scene in 2002 ,with a little book called “Seabiscuit”, not only introducing us to a wonderful racehorse but giving the non-fiction world a real boost. She does it again here, with her irresistible narrative style and sharp eye for detail. Another winner all the way! show less
An excellent biography, honest and vivid. It is amazing the levels of cruelty human beings can inflict on each other, and this book certainly displays how the sick individual can exploit a systemic racism and national triumphalism to justify such cruelty. However, Hildebrand also shows how equally amazing is the ability of humans to withstand such cruelty, individually and in support of each other.
Here also though is a clear picture of the lasting effects of war and torture on people how show more have survived them. Zamperini's faith helps him find a way out of the hate and substance abuse that could have destroyed him. Not all are so able or so fortunate. show less
Here also though is a clear picture of the lasting effects of war and torture on people how show more have survived them. Zamperini's faith helps him find a way out of the hate and substance abuse that could have destroyed him. Not all are so able or so fortunate. show less
Lists
Female Author (1)
Best War Stories (1)
Read These Too (1)
To Read (1)
Olympians (1)
THE WAR ROOM (1)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 6
- Also by
- 3
- Members
- 24,064
- Popularity
- #871
- Rating
- 4.3
- Reviews
- 792
- ISBNs
- 138
- Languages
- 13
- Favorited
- 20
