Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

This book started a little slow for me (it was hard for me have sympathy for the young hellion who kept stealing from his neighbors), but it developed into a really great story. It was very carefully researched--so there's a lot of information beyond the biography of Louis Zamperini (Olympian, track star, WWII bombardier, POW, and inspirational speaker) that really provides a context for his experiences. A lot of the story was difficult to get through--apparently the prisoners of war held in Japan during WWII were often abused and starved--but it really is a great story about the ability of one remarkable man to survive in the face of overwhelming odds.