Devil at My Heels: A WW II Hero's Epic Saga of Torment, Survival, and Forgiveness
Zamperini was an intractable troublemaker of a youth who became  a champion runner, competing in the 1936 Olympics and shaking  hands with Hitler and Goebbels. When war seemed inevitable, he  joined the Army Air Corps and flew a number of combat missions  in the Pacific as a B-24 bombardier. In May 1943, his plane  crashed on a routine search mission, and Zamperini and two  survivors floated on a raft for 47 days before being taken  prisoner by the Japanese. He spent the rest of the war in prison  camps undergoing terrible abuse, as did many prisoners in Japan.  After the war, disaffected and rootless, he attended an early  Billy Graham revival and found religion. He became an  inspirational speaker, eventually returned to Japan to confront  and forgive his captors, and spent the rest of his life  spreading Christianity and supporting various Christian  endeavors. His memoir will fit well in inspirational  collections, but it is also a well-written addition to the  growing body of World War II personal narratives. Zamperini's  positive attitude, resilience, and narrative strength make this  a reasonable purchase for many public libraries and military  collections. [During the 1998 Winter Olympics in Japan,  Zamperini's story and dramatic return to face his torturer was  chronicled on CBS's 48 Hours.-Ed.]-Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army  Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, K.--Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army  Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KSCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.