Don't Give Up, Don't Give In Lessons from the Life of an Extraordinary Man Synopsis
'IF YOU CAN TAKE IT, YOU CAN MAKE IT' Louis Zamperini lived one of the most amazing lives imaginable. As a young boy he was a troublemaker but his will to succeed drove him on to become an Olympian at the 1936 Games. With the outbreak of war, Louis volunteered for the army and was thrust into the violent combat of the Second World War as a B-24 bombardier. While on a rescue mission Louis's plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean, leaving him stranded and drifting 2000 miles in a small raft for 47 days. Against all the odds he survived. His struggle was just beginning: captured by the Japanese, Louis courageously endured torture in a series of prisoner-of-war camps for over two years. Not only did he survive this ordeal but he went on to spend the rest of his life helping others. Completed just two days before Louis's death at age 97, Don't Give Up, Don't Give In contains a lifetime of wisdom and humour. Louis shares the wonderful lessons he has learned during his life, previously untold stories, and inspirational insights on how he overcame adversity and found the courage to never give up and never give in. Louis's story has touched millions and will forever be one of the most inspiring examples of the great resilience of the human spirit.
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Louis Zamperini Press Reviews
'This second memoir, dictated to co-writer Rensin during the last year of the author's life, brims with sage wisdom, learned advice and fond observations from his adventurous 97 years. Zamperini answers the most recurring questions asked of him during book signings and lectures, mostly pertaining to his adventures after his service in World War II, his secret to living honorably and what role his faith in God played ... Stuffed with bolstering, life-affirmative reinforcement ... the inspirational odyssey of an American hero' Kirkus
About Louis Zamperini
Louis Zamperini was a troubled boy in Torrance, California until he took up running and turned his life around. He set the high school track record for the mile and was undefeated for three-and-a-half years. In 1936 he went to Berlin as part of the American Olympic team running the 5000-meter race. At the University of Southern California he set the National Collegiate Athletic Association mile record of 4:08.3 that stood for 15 years.
When the Second World War broke out, Zamperini joined the Army Air Corps as a bombardier. On 27 May 1943, while on a rescue mission 800 miles south of Hawaii, Louis’s plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Only Louis, the pilot, and the tail-gunner survived. They waited in two life rafts for rescue. No one came − and chased by sharks, and surviving on rainwater and raw albatross − Louis drifted 2,000 miles for 47 days before, emaciated and near death, he and the pilot were captured by the Japanese.
Two and a half years of prison, torture and humiliation followed, much of it at the hands of a psychopathic guard nicknamed The Bird. Louis never gave up or gave in. He made it home and was called a hero. Zamperini said only, ‘I’m no hero, just a survivor.’
After the war Louis suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, drank too much, brawled and had constant nightmares about The Bird. It was during this dark period that Louis met and married the woman of his dreams then almost lost her before he hit bottom and found a way to forgive The Bird.
Zamperini went on to become an inspirational speaker and devoted himself to an outreach programme for boys who were as wayward as he had been as a boy. He counselled the famous, infamous and anonymous. He skied, ran, hiked, climbed a glacier − even skateboarded. He wrote an autobiography, Devil At My Heels, in 2003, and in 2010 Louis’s wartime adventures were the subject of Laura Hillenbrand’s mega-bestseller, Unbroken, which is now a movie directed by Angelina Jolie and due to be released Christmas 2014.
Before Zamperini died in July 2014 at the age of 97, he shared the wonderful lessons he had learned during his life, previously untold stories and inspirational insights on how he overcame adversity, maintained a positive attitude in the face of trouble, learned to forgive, and found the quiet strength to never give up and never give in. The result: Louis’s final book, Don’t Give Up, Don’t Give In.
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