Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Louis Zamperini must have been born to survive. From the first page of this book, you feel a connection to the boy/man to be, even though he was constantly mischief-making. Discovering a love for running, he channels his energy and appears headed for the Olympics. The arrival of World War II finds him in the Army Air Force. Getting the "behind the scenes" information of the training of airmen in the army, one wonders how they ever got off the ground. The horror of crashing in the ocean and being adrift over forty days surviving by ingenuity and stubbornness and hope. The shock and hopelessness of being a prisoner of war, the kindness of some captors greatly diminished by the cruelty of the worst. When finally released at the end of the war, the struggle to survive in a world that they didn't even recognize. A wonderfully sad, inspirational tale of a man's struggle to survive and come to terms with his inner self. You must read this.