Unbroken begins with Louis being a troublemaker in the small town of Torrance. He was so bad that he punched anyone who angered him. He was so bad that he constantly was sent to the principles office for pushing teachers. He was so bad that he threw things at cops for fun. After Louis came to the realization that he needed to make a change, his brother introduced him to track.
Louis was a star from the beginning. Louis smashed Torrance High records and state records and national records for his age. He began rigorous training with his brother to reach his big goal: the olympics. Louis ran like the wind in hopes of making it to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Louis was a track prodigy and made it to the olympics, but years later, things took a turn for the worst.
After the outbreak of World War 2, Louis joined the military. He became a B-24 bomber crew member. On one of his crew's missions, the plane experienced technical difficulties and crash landed into the Pacific. 47 days at sea, 2 years a POW, a lifetime of pain and suffering.
As a POW in Japan, Louis-with many other soldiers- was brutally tortured by the Japanese. They unmercifully beat him and the other POW's daily, and only fed them just enough to survive. It was a terrible experience, and it would live with all of the POW's long after the war was over.
When your enemies try to break you, you must stay strong. You can not break. The story of how Louis remained strong, from long before the war to long after, is what makes this book so inspiring.
