Don't Give Up, Don't Give In: Lessons from an Extraordinary Life

by Louis Zamperini, David Rensin

Overview

New York Times Bestseller: This memoir by the Unbroken hero “brims with sage wisdom . . . and fond observations from his adventurous ninety-seven years” (Kirkus Reviews).
 
Completed just two days before Louis Zamperini’s death at age ninety-seven, Don’t Give Up, Don’t Give In shares a lifetime of wisdom, insight, and humor from “one of the most incredible American lives of the past century” (People). Zamperini’s story has touched millions through Laura Hillenbrand’s biography Unbroken and its blockbuster movie adaptation. Here, in his own words, Zamperini reveals with warmth and great charm the essential values and lessons that sustained him throughout his remarkable journey.
 
He was a youthful troublemaker from California who turned his life around to become a 1936 Olympian. Putting aside his track career, he volunteered for the army before Pearl Harbor and was thrust into World War II as a B-24 bombardier. While on a rescue mission, his plane went down in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where he survived against all odds, drifting two thousand miles on a small raft for forty-seven days. His struggle was only beginning: Zamperini was captured by the Japanese, and for more than two years he courageously endured torture and psychological abuse in a series of POW camps. He returned home to face more dark hours—but in 1949 Zamperini’s life was transformed by a spiritual rebirth that would guide him through the next sixty-five years of his long and happy life. Louis Zamperini’s Don’t Give Up, Don’t Give In is an extraordinary last testament that captures the wisdom of a life lived to the fullest.
 
“A fitting capstone to the Zamperini legend.” —USA Today

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062368812
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	277
Sales rank:	387,095
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

A son of Italian immigrants, Louis Zamperini (1917-2014) was a U.S. Olympic runner, World War II bombardier, and POW survivor. After the war, he returned to the United States to found the Victory Boys Camp for at-risk youth and became an inspirational speaker. Zamperini's story was told in his 2003 autobiography Devil at My Heels, as well as in Laura Hillenbrand's 2010 biography Unbroken.

David Rensin worked closely with Louis Zamperini for many years and cowrote Devil at My Heels, as well as fifteen other books, including five New York Times bestsellers.

Table of Contents

Coauthor's Note xiii

Introduction xix

Run for your life

The Family Rules 3

Anyone Can Turn Their Life Around 7

The Difference Between Attention and Recognition Is Self-Esteem 21

It's Not How You Win, It's How You Lose 25

A Race Isn't Over Until It's Over 29

Be Prepared

Preparation Determines Your Survival 37

My Survival Kit 41

Trust What You Know 45

Keep Your Mind Sharp 49

Don't Forget to Laugh 55

Don't Give Up, Don't Give In

You Are the Content of Your Character 63

Never Let Anyone Destroy Your Dignity 71

Hate Is a Personal Decision 73

The True Definition of Hero 77

Attitude is everything

You Must Have Hope 81

Don't Ask Why, Ask What's Next 83

You Choose How to View Your Fate 87

The Secret of Contentment 89

After the war: Still Lost

You Can't Run (or Sail) Away from Yourself 95

Don't Leave the Crucial Details to Others 121

There's Always An Answer to Everything

You Need a Cloud to Have a Silver Lining 129

Know When You've Done All you Can Do 141

The Gangster and the Gospel 147

Give Back

It takes a Camp to Help a Child 157

Get Their Attention 165

First you listen 169

Accomplishment Is the Key to Self-Respect 173

My private Reward 177

The Mission that Never Ends 179

What I've Learned

Challenge Yourself 187

Learn to Adapt 193

Commitment and Perseverance Pay Off 197

You're Only as Old as You fell 199

Free Advice 203

Lessons of the olympic spirit

It's About People 209

You Have to Train to carry a torch 211

Forgiveness is the healing factor 215

Remember me this way

A Charitable Heart 223

Afterword 225

Acknowledgments 233

Editorial Reviews

Louis Zamperini, the author of this book, died in July at the age of 97, but he will likely be remembered forever both as a World War II hero and as the subject of Laura Hillenbrand's award-winning bestseller Unbroken. In this extraordinary posthumously published book, this feisty survivor reflects on his long life, his ordeals as a plane crash survivor and a World War II prisoner, and what his challenges taught him about persistence and staying alive. (P.S. A film based on Hillenbrand's book premieres on Christmas Day. Unbroken was directed by Angelina Jolie and features a screenplay by the Coen Brothers.)

09/29/2014
Though the life of 1936 Olympic athlete and WWII POW Zamperini was indeed extraordinary, the “life lessons” collected in this posthumously published work (Zamperini died in 2014) prove disappointingly commonplace. The insights he shared with coauthor Rensin tend toward the broadly general, such as, at the start of a chapter on survival, “Life on earth is dangerous: you should be prepared for anything.” A section entitled “Anyone Can Turn Their Life Around,” meanwhile, strikes a surprisingly Pollyannaish note. Zamperini, with his extensive experience of peril, shares his counsel for dealing with dangerous situations, such as the eccentric earthquake-readiness tip to always keep a hard hat and pair of heavy shoes by one’s bedside. He seems less charming than reckless when he cheerfully describes playing “pranks,” including one that could have led to a fatal air accident. Zamperini’s willingness to forgive the sadistic Japanese officer who tormented him in captivity is moving, but his statement that “true forgiveness goes hand in hand with no longer condemning” may strike readers as an overly lenient attitude toward evil. Admirers of this extraordinary hero may prefer to stick with Laura Hillenbrand’s biography, Unbroken, and Zamperini’s own autobiography, Devil at My Heels. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

A fitting capstone to the Zamperini legend. ... This valedictory book reflects the charm and colorful authority he brought to the world.” — USA Today

“Not simply another rehashing of Zamperini’s incredible history, this second memoir, dictated to co-author Rensin during the last year of the author’s life, brims with sage wisdom, learned advice and fond observations from his adventurous 97 years. ... Inspirational.” — Kirkus Reviews

“One of the most incredible American lives of the past century.” — People, on Louis Zamperini

“Louis Zamperini is a modern miracle. His life reads like something out of a storybook.” — Billy Graham, on Louis Zamperini

“Louis Zamperini’s life is a story that befits the greatness of the country he served.” — John McCain, on Louis Zamperini

“An extraordinary hero.” — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Louis Zamperini’s life is a story that befits the greatness of the country he served.

John McCain

One of the most incredible American lives of the past century.

on Louis Zamperini People

Louis Zamperini is a modern miracle. His life reads like something out of a storybook.

Billy Graham

A fitting capstone to the Zamperini legend. ... This valedictory book reflects the charm and colorful authority he brought to the world.

USA Today

A fitting capstone to the Zamperini legend. ... This valedictory book reflects the charm and colorful authority he brought to the world.

USA Today

One of the most incredible American lives of the past century.

People

He was my friend, my mentor, my hero. We are all so grateful for how enriched our lives are for having known him.

Angelina Jolie

This autobiography by the late—and truly great—Louis Zamperini is ably read by Arthur Morey. Zamperini, whose story is depicted in the recent movie UNBROKEN, had a life that no one would believe if it were fiction: He was an Olympic athlete and a WWII bomber pilot who was shot down and survived in a raft for 47 days in shark-infested waters, and then survived two years of torture and abuse as a P.O.W. of the Japanese. Returning home after the war, he faced more demons before his conversion to Christianity in 1949. In his subsequent life he was a mentor and an inspirational speaker. Morey is a skilled narrator, but this performance lacks the warmth, energy, and vitality that Zamperini had when speaking in public. One wishes that Zamperini had lived long enough to narrate his own book. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2015 - AudioFile

2014-10-05
A celebrated war veteran and Olympic contender shares his life's lessons. Not simply another rehashing of Zamperini's (Devil at My Heels: A WWII Hero's Epic Saga of Torment, Survival, and Forgiveness, 2003) incredible history, 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. The author weaves practical advice into anecdotes on his parents, his troubled adolescence, his post-military spiritual connection with Billy Graham, and how his affinity for distance running on an Olympic level honed enough mental discipline to endure and survive the sadistic torture of a Japanese POW camp and the PTSD that followed. The author also provides robust wilderness survival tips, which saved his life while adrift on a life raft in the Pacific Ocean and during his service as a U.S. Army Air Force bombardier. Certainly, his counsel is often platitudinous (exercise forgiveness, challenge yourself, be positive, and give back), but it's also inspirational, and his words will offer a reflective refresher course for those receptive to it. Never boastful yet full of prideful personality, Zamperini's tireless zest manifested in his later years with speaking engagements and collaboration with the Angelina Jolie-produced film adaptation of Lauren Hillenbrand's best-selling book Unbroken (2010), based on his astonishing, fruitful life. Stuffed with bolstering, life-affirmative reinforcement, Zamperini's legacy lives on through words and film, embodied best by a photograph of the nonagenarian skillfully riding a skateboard. The inspirational odyssey of an American hero.

Kirkus Reviews