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Laura Hillenbrand

Laura Hillenbrand Books

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“In Sugamo, Louie asked his escort what had happened to the Bird. He was told that it was believed that the former sergeant, hunted, exiled and in despair, had stabbed himself to death. The words washed over Louie. In prison camp, Watanabe had forced him to live in incomprehensible degradation and violence. Bereft of his dignity, Louie had come home to a life lost in darkness, and had dashed himself against the memory of the Bird. But on an October night in Los Angeles, Louie had found, in Payton Jordan’s words, “daybreak.” That night, the sense of shame and powerlessness that had driven his hate the Bird had vanished. The Bird was no longer his monster. He was only a man. In Sugamo Prison, as he was told of Watanabe’s fate, all Louie saw was a lost person, a life beyond redemption. He felt something that he had never felt fro his captor before. With a shiver of amazement, he realized that it was compassion. At that moment, something shifted swiftly inside him. It was forgiveness, beautiful and effortless and complete. For Louie Zamperini, the was was over.”

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Book:Unbroken: An Olympian's Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive
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“She dressed in bohemian clothes, penned novels, panted, and yearned to roam forgotten corners of the world. She was habitually defiant and fearless, and when she felt controlled, as she often did, she could be irresistibly willfull. Mostly, she was bored silly by the vanilla sort boys who trailed her around, and by the stodgy set in Miami Beach.”

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Book:Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
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“But on Kwajalein, the guards sought to deprive them of something that had sustained them even as all else had been lost: dignity. This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul, lies at the heart of humanness; to be deprived of it is to be dehumanized, to be cleaved from, and cast below, mankind.”

WarSelf RespectCaptivityTraumatic ExperiencesTraumatizedDehumanizationInhumaneWorthlessnessComplex PtsdNo Longer HumanDehumanizePrisoners Of WarHeld CaptiveSurvivors Of War
Book:Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
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“But on Kwajalein, the guards sought to deprive them of something that had sustained them even as all else had been lost: dignity. This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul, lies at heart of humanness; to be deprived of it is to be dehumanized, to be cleaved from, and cast below, mankind. Men subjected to dehumanization treatment experience profound wretchedness and loneliness and find that hope is almost impossible to retain. Without dignity, identity is erased. In its absence, men are defined not by themselves, but by their captors and their circumstances in which they are forced to live.”

HumanityIdentityDignity
Book:Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
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“When a horse and a jockey flew over the track together, there were moments in which the man's mind wedded itself to the animal's body to form something greater than the sum of both parts. The horse partook of the jockey's cunning, the jockey partook of the horse's supreme power. For the jockey the saddle was a place of unparalleled exhilaration, of transcendence.”

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Book:Seabiscuit: An American Legend
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“But for all its miseries, there was an unmistakable allure to the jockey's craft... Man is preoccupied with freedom yet laden with handicaps. The breadth of his activity and experience is narrowed by the limitations of his relative weak, sluggish body. The racehorse, by virtue of his awesome physical gifts, freed the jockey from himself. When a horse and a jockey flew over the tack together, there were moments in which the man's mind wedded itself to the animal's body to form something greater than the sum of both parts. The horse partook of the jockey's cunning; the jockey partook of the horse's supreme power. For the jockey, the saddle was a place of unparalled exhilaration, of transcendence.”

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Author:Laura Hillenbrand
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“This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul, lies at the heart of humanness; to be deprived of it is to be dehumanized, to be cleaved from, and cast below, mankind.”

HeartSoulSelfLyingMankindCastsSelf WorthSelf RespectDeprivedSense Of SelfUnbrokenArmamentHumannessDehumanization
Book:Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
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“Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man's soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it.”

MenShouldHumansLongSoulBodyPastFacesWaterEssentialsDignityShould HaveExtremesHuman LifeHardshipStubbornOxygenUnbrokenRetention
Book:Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
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“Though all three men faced the same hardship, their differing perceptions of it appeared to be shaping their fates. Louie and Phil's hope displaced their fear and inspired them to work toward their survival, and each success renewed their physical and emotional vigor. Mac's resignation seemed to paralyze him and the less he participated in their efforts to survive, the more he slipped. Though he did the least, as the days passed, it was he who faded the most. Louie and Phil's optimism, and Mac's hopelessness, were becoming self-fulfilling.”

MenSelfThreeEffortFateEmotionalBecomingPerceptionSurvivalOptimismInspiredHardshipFulfillingHopelessnessResignationFadedVigorMacsUnbroken
Book:Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
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“Such beauty, he thought, was too perfect to have come about by mere chance. That day in the center of the Pacific was, to him, a gift crafted deliberately, compassionately, for him and Phil. Joyful and grateful in the midst of slow dying, the two men bathed in that day until sunset brought is, and their time in the doldrums, to an end.”

MenTwoEndsChancePerfectDyingGratefulMereSunsetMidstJoyfulPacificUnbrokenDoldrums
Book:Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
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“Finally, I wish to remember the millions of Allied servicemen and prisoners of war who lived the story of the Second World War. Many of these men never came home; many others returned bearing emotional and physical scars that would stay with them for the rest of their lives. I come away from this book with the deepest appreciation for what these men endured, and what they scarified, for the good of humanity. It is to them that this book {Unbroken} is dedicated.”

MenWorldBookWarStoriesHomeRememberHumanityWishMillionsEmotionalAppreciationWar Of The WorldsPrisonerDedicatedScarSecond World WarUnbrokenServicemenPrisoner Of War
Book:Unbroken (The Young Adult Adaptation): An Olympian's Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive
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“The paradox of vengefulness is that it makes men dependent upon those who have harmed them, believing that their release from pain will come only when they make their tormentors suffer. In seeking the Bird's death to free himself, Louie had chained himself, once again, to his tyrant. During the war, the Bird had been unwilling to let go of Louie; after the war, Louie was unable to let go of the Bird.”

MenBelieveWarPainSufferingLetting GoBirdSeekingReleaseDependentParadoxTyrantsMentorUnwillingChainedUnable To Let Go
Book:Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
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“Every day after lunch when I was writing my first book, I'd nibble a square of fine chocolate and meditate on all that had gone into its creation: the sun and rain that spilled on the cocoa plant, the soil that nourished it, the hands that picked the beans, and so on. My taste of chocolate became a lesson on the interconnectedness of things, and the infinite blessings for which I am grateful.”

WritingFirstsBookHandsSunGoneCreationFineLessonsTasteBlessingRainInfiniteGratefulPlantSoilChocolateLunchSquaresBeansInterconnectednessI Am GratefulCocoaSun And Rain
Author:Laura Hillenbrand
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