But with nonfiction, the task is very straightforward: Do the research, tell the story

When he thought of his history, what resonated with him now was not all that he had suffered but the divine love that he believed had intervened to save him.

I just thought I was empty and now I'm being filled...and I just wanted to keep being filled.

What God asks of men, said [Billy] Graham, is faith. His invisibility is the truest test of that faith. To know who sees him, God makes himself unseen.

At that moment, something shifted sweetly inside him. It was forgiveness, beautiful and effortless and complete. For Louie Zamperini, the war was over.

We just sat there and watched the plane pass the island, and it never came back," he said. "I could see it on the radar. It makes you feel terrible. Life was cheap in war.

People think I must have been turning cartwheels on the night I sealed the movie deal - which was only two days after sealing the book deal - but I was really quite terrified.