Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption is a 2010 non-fiction book by Laura Hillenbrand.

Unbroken is a biography of World War II veteran Louis Zamperini, a former Olympic track star who survived a plane crash in the Pacific Theater, spent 47 days drifting on a raft, and then survived more than two and a half years as a prisoner of war (POW) in three Japanese POW camps.

Unbroken spent more than four years on The New York Times best seller list, including 14 weeks at number one.

Pete rides a bicycle alongside Louis as he runs home from school, ringing the bike bell as encouragement.

Louis joins his high school track team, begins to win races, and becomes known as the Torrance Tornado.

Training at a college track facility, Louis becomes acquainted with James Sasaki, a man he presumes to be Japanese-American.

Pete tells Louis to never forget that “a moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory”.

Louis’ running career ends abruptly as World War II begins.

While Louis’ crew understands that the Green Hornet is an unreliable plane, his superiors insist that it is flight worthy.

The Green Hornet crashes due to mechanical difficulties 850 miles (1,370 km) south of Oahu, killing eight of the 11 men aboard.

Aware of past records for survival at sea, the survivors carefully track the passage of time.

The POWs explain that the nickname “The Bird” refers to their tormentor’s way of constantly watching and listening.

During one of their morning “trainings”, the Bird calls out Louis as an Olympic athlete and forces him to race against one of the camp guards.

During this time Louis recognizes one of the Japanese officers as none other than James Sasaki, an acquaintance during training as a track athlete at a college in the USA.

Louis experiences profound discomfort at the sight of other clean and well-dressed American personnel taking part in this kind of collaboration with the Japanese.

When the camp comes under attack, the prisoners are moved to a coal production facility and told to work or be killed.

As the war comes to an end, the camp guards scatter and American planes drop food and other supplies to the POWs.

However, traumatized by his wartime ordeal, without a career, and unable to pursue his love of running, Louis becomes an alcoholic.

When evangelist Billy Graham comes to town, Cynthia convinces Louis to attend a revival meeting.

As a gesture of reconciliation and resilience, Louis carries the torch past one of the locations where he was once imprisoned.

The Quack: An unnamed Japanese officer who beats Bill Harris for creating a map of the camp and a Japanese-English dictionary.

Billy Graham: the evangelist who inspires Louis’ post-war spiritual reawakening that lifts him out of alcoholism and despair.

[5] In January/February 2011 issue of Bookmarks, the book received 4 out of 5 stars, with the critical summary saying, "In the end, most agreed with the Oregonian's conclusion: "It is hard to decide which aspect of Unbroken is more remarkable--Louis Zamperini's life story or Laura Hillenbrand's telling of it".

Angelina Jolie directed this film while the Coen brothers, Richard LaGravenese, and William Nicholson wrote the screenplay.

[14] Jack O'Connell portrays Louis Zamperini[15] and the film had its general release on Christmas 2014 to mixed reviews but was a box office success.