100 Books Like Unbroken

When I was secretly working as an escort, living and working ‘underground’, and came upon this book, I was immediately drawn in because here, too, despite and thankfully many different circumstances, was a woman witnessing and taking notes not only to keep herself sane but also to bear witness to the real events as they affected women in this terrible and extraordinary moment in history.

Instead of events and general washes of the main players, as is so often what we get when studying a period of history, here was a true, authentic voice of the actual effects and aftermath of the war on the people living through it. And she wrote it as it was being lived! …” with nothing but a pencil stub, writing by candlelight since Berlin had no electricity…”

As the author, she chose to remain anonymous to protect herself. This choice resonated with me until… show more.

A bit dry and occasionally over-focused on rattling off official numbers and unit designations, The Fall Of Berlin is also a low-key horror novel. Surrounded on all sides by a massive Russian army hell-bent on revenge, the people of Berlin are caught between those invaders and their own leadership forcing them into a suicidal last stand. The scale of brutality is numbing; this is a battle fought without mercy by two adversaries locked in a death struggle.

It is a book that deep dives into a historical event, in this case, the 1893 World Columbian Exposition. Check. It is a nonfiction book that reads like a gripping thriller, in this case, the serial killer H.H. Holmes, who built a three-story building featuring secret rooms, torture chambers, and a crematorium. Check. Chicago leaps off the page. By the end of the book, I was able to envision the massive exposition, its hundreds of temporary buildings, all white colored, interlaced with ponds and canals.

Much like that exposition helped raise Chicago up from its Great Fire, so I could see a Chicago of the past, in a glorious triumph of industry and innovation. Oh, and yeah, a serial killer constructing a horrific murder building.

Who knew the bicycle helped advance the cause of women’s suffrage? I loved how this book took a seemingly modest technological invention and showed how it contributed to wide-ranging social, cultural, and, ultimately, political change. Though notable figures make appearances, what appealed to me was Macy’s focus on the everyday woman. Frances Willard may have spoken for these women when she wrote, “I began to feel that myself plus the bicycle equaled myself plus the world.” 

The book is richly illustrated with an abundance of sidebar features, including facsimiles of contemporary newspaper clippings. Wheels of Change shows how political change goes hand-in-hand with more mundane socio-cultural shifts. The bicycle gave women the fact of personal independence and a sense of new possibility.

Bloodlands is a story about the dead. Using archives made available after the break-up of the Soviet Union, Mr. Snyder sheds light on both Stalin’s and Hitler’s brutality.

In a confined area that includes just eastern Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic countries, 14 million civilians died from the 1930s to the end of the war. Most were either starved or shot. Even more startling were the plans to kill millions more.

Stalin said, “a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic.” Mr. Snyder reminds us of the tragedy.

This book is a profound meditation on human resilience that never fails to move me. I'm constantly in awe of Hemingway's ability to weave so much meaning into such a deceptively simple tale. The way Santiago's unwavering determination shines through, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, resonates deeply with me.

I find myself returning to this book time and time again, drawing inspiration from the old man's quiet strength and dignity. The vivid portrayal of man's relationship with nature—both its beauty and its harsh realities—leaves me breathless. What I love most is how Hemingway captures the essence of the human spirit in Santiago's struggle, reminding me that true victory lies not in the outcome but in the perseverance of the journey.

I loved this book for the flavor it evokes of the early days of the game: the clowning, rough play, and inconsistent pay; the bus rides, bedbugs, and vexations of segregation. All are told in the voice of an everyman Negro Leagues player.

The conceit allows author Kadir Nelson to bring the reader closer to the feel of the times and to provide interpretations that avoid sounding pedantic: “You couldn’t change those folks’ minds anyhow. We were just a bunch of ballplayers. They were long set in their ways.” Nelson’s bold, full-page illustrations are surely the most striking feature of this book. They imbue each Negro Leaguer with unequivocal dignity; they stimulate the viewer to imagine himself there, in the stands, looking on.

I liked both this book and the movie, even if it has practically just one character. The castaway is so well described that after a few pages, the reader feels like a long-time friend and gets emotionally involved in the story.

I felt like traveling with him across half the planet to reach the Schiaparelli crater, which may mean a possibility of returning home. The other characters who risk their lives to save him also become friends, working with the reader on this common goal.

Our experiences are quite different; Newmann grew up in Venezuela and didn’t know her father was Jewish, let alone that he’d survived the Holocaust. Yet, what drew me in was her desire to understand the pieces of her family story that were unexplained and the secrets that didn’t quite make sense.

Her quest to understand her father and his family, whom she never got to meet, kept me engaged until the end. We need to understand our past to understand ourselves.

I like this book because I strongly identify with Rayford Steele. He is a professional pilot with character flaws and no superpowers. I am no pilot but also a professional with character flaws. And no superpowers.

When the story opens, I want to grab Rayford by the shirt collar and scream, “Don’t do it.” Of course, disaster strikes first, and then—with God’s guidance—Rayford overcomes incredible adversity to lead his Tribulation Force team through the worst seven years in human history. I also like Bruce Barnes, a pastor who built a career as a hypocrite not believing what he preached. Like Rayford, Bruce’s character grows as the adversity grows, and he finds ways to meet every challenge despite his human weaknesses.