Book : Devil At My Heels - Zamperini, Louis

-Titulo Original : Devil At My Heels

-Fabricante :

HarperCollins

-Descripcion Original:

“An extraordinary story of war and a touching tale of the triumph of love.”-James Bradley, author of Flags of Our FathersDevil at My Heels is the riveting, astonishing, and inspirational memoir of one of the greatest of the Greatest Generation: U.S. Olympian, World War II bombardier, Japanese POW, and survivor Louis Zamperini. His story of courage and resilience is so extraordinary that Lauren Hillebrand, author of Seabiscuit, made it the subject of her acclaimed bestseller, Unbroken. But Devil at My Heels is Zamperini’s remarkable personal history in his own words-a gripping, first-hand account of every trial, torment, escape, and remarkable triumph-with an introduction by Senator John McCain, himself a former Air Force flyer and prisoner of war. From the Back Cover The inspirational and extraordinary memoir of one of the most courageous of the greatest generation, Louis Zamperini: Olympian, WWII Japanese POW and survivor. A juvenile delinquent, a world class NCAA miler, a 1936 Olympian, a WWII bombardier: Louis Zamperini had a fuller than most, when it changed in an instant. On May 27, 1943, his B-24 crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Louis and two other survivors found a raft amid the flaming wreckage and waited for rescue. Instead, they drifted two thousand miles for forty-seven days. Their only food: two shark livers and three raw albatross. Their only water: sporadic rainfall. Their only companions: hope and faith-and the ever-present sharks. On the forty-seventh day, mere skeletons close to death, Zamperini and pilot Russell Phillips spotted land-and were captured by the Japanese. Thus began more than two years of torture and humiliation as a prisoner of war. Zamperini was threatened with beheading, subject to medical experiments, routinely beaten, hidden in a secret interrogation facility, starved and forced into slave labour, and was the constant victim of a brutal prison guard nicknamed the Bird-a man so vicious that the other guards feared him and called him a psychopath. Meanwhile, the Army Air Corps declared Zamperini dead and President Roosevelt sends official condolences to his family, who never gave up hope that he was alive. Somehow, Zamperini survived and he returned home a hero. The celebration was short-lived. He plunged into drinking and brawling and the depths of rage and despair. Nightly, the Birds face leered at him in his dreams. It would take years, but with the love of his wife and the power of faith, he was able to stop the nightmares and the drinking. A stirring memoir from one of the greatest of the Greatest Generation, DEVIL AT MY HEELS is a living document about the brutality of war, the tenacity of the human spirit, and the power of forgiveness. About the Author Louis Zamperini is the subject of Lauren Hillenbrands critically acclaimed biography Unbroken, the research for which was conducted over the course of more than 75 phone calls between Zamperini and the author, resulting in hundreds of hours of interviews. Zamperini is a regular lecturer, appearing before student groups, veterans, troubled youth, sports clubs, senior citizens, and religious organizations. Zamperini, now 93, lives in Hollywood, and only recently gave up skateboarding. David Rensin has written and cowritten thirteen books, five of them New York Times bestsellers. He lives in Los Angeles.