This book is the autobiography of Louis Zamperini written with David Rensin. “Lucky Louie” escaped from a juvenile delinquent life to become an Olympic runner and later a U.S. Army bombardier in the Pacific during World War II. He was on a plane that crashed on a search mission and Louis and two others survived to begin a long drift in two rafts. One man died, but Louis and the pilot survived to be captured by the Japanese and imprisoned. They were treated inhumanely and lived in squalid and deprived conditions. Louis was treated as a war hero after being freed and was freed again from an alcoholic life by the efforts of his wife to get him to attend Billy Graham speaking events. The life story is fascinating and the book tells it exceptionally well.

A more complete description of what is in the book is given in my review of “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand. That book was selected by the Northern Colorado Common Read (NCCR) as the book of the year for 2012. I do not understand why they didn’t select “Devil at My Heels” instead. The autobiography is a better and more believable book. The first person writing is easier to read and there are additional interesting details.

Louis writes in the newly added Afterword to his autobiography that Ms. Hillenbrand had contacted him shortly after “Devil at My Heels” had been completed to tell him “This is the kind of story I live to write.” Louis tried to discourage her by telling her “We got everything in my book. We haven’t missed a thing. What else is there to know?” Ms Hillenbrand contacted him almost a year later with another appeal, and Louis told her “If you insist on doing it, go ahead, and I will help you as much as I can.” A search of the Internet found that “Lucky Louie” met Ms. Hillenbrand once.

Many of the stories told in “Unbroken” are the same as the ones told in “Devil at My Heels,” but without the personal touch. I tend to believe the personal story where there are differences. For example, Louis writes that he finished eighth in the Berlin Olympics 5000 meter race and Ms. Hillenbrand writes that he finished seventh.

I began posting book reviews with the goal of helping people select from the numerous great books that deserve to be read. In this case I highly recommend that you read this autobiography instead of the biography. Both are good books, but “Devil at My Heels” is, in my opinion, much better.