Books reviewed by Carol Van Strum:
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, by Laura Hillenbrand, 2010. Random House hardcover, $27.00.
Going Home to Glory: A Memoir of Life with Dwight David Eisenhower, 1961-1969, by David Eisenhower with Julie Nixon Eisenhower, 2010. Simon & Schuster, hardcover, $28.00.
“ANDREA: Unhappy the land that has no heroes!”
GALILEO: No, unhappy the land that needs heroes.”
— Bertoldt Brecht, Galileo
Sometimes a book becomes a best seller not by PR hype and talk shows, but on its own merits, its exceptional qualities, and its readability. Really, it does happen — rarely, but it happens. Such was the case ten years ago with Laura Hillenbrand’s first book, the biography of a horse called Seabiscuit. Few predicted its phenomenal success, which was well deserved. Seabiscuit brought alive not only an extraordinary horse, but also the three men who loved and believed in him against all odds. A symbol of hope for millions during the bleakest years of the Great Depression, the knobby-kneed, ungainly horse who came from nowhere overcame crippling injuries and setbacks to beat the greatest racehorses in the nation.
Ten years later, Hillenbrand does it again with her second book, Unbroken. At first glance, such a title suggests another horse story, but this one is Seabiscuit’s human parallel: the story of a man named Louis Zamperini. Like Seabiscuit, Zamperini had an unprepossessing beginning. From early childhood, his greatest joy was in stealing whatever he could, just for the thrill of it. By adolescence he seemed headed for prison or worse, until in desperation his older brother turned Louis’ speed at running from the cops into an asset and began training him for track.
By the age of 16, Louis was a young phenomenon, qualifying for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where his stunning last lap in the 5,000 meter finals drew admiring attention from Jesse Owens and even Adolph Hitler. After stealing everything not nailed down in both Berlin and the luxury liner returning home, Louis spent the next four years training for the 1940 Olympics in Tokyo, coming within a hair of running the four-minute mile and confident of success.