Books from Angelina Jolie

First They Killed My Father

A major film, co-written and directed by Angelina Jolie Until the age of five, Loung Ung lived in Phnom Penh, one of seven children of a high-ranking government official. She was a precocious child who loved the open city markets, fried crickets, chicken fights and being cheeky to her parents.When Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into Phnom Penh in April 1975, Loung's family fled their home and were eventually forced to disperse to survive. Loung was trained as a child soldier while her brothers and sisters were sent to labour camps. The surviving siblings were only finally reunited after the Vietnamese penetrated Cambodia and started to destroy the Khmer Rouge.Bolstered by the bravery of one brother, the vision of the others and the gentle kindness of her sister, Loung forged on to create for herself a courageous new life.First They Killed My Father is an unforgettable book told through the voice of the young and fearless Loung. It is a shocking and tragic tale of a girl who was determined to survive despite the odds.
Angelina Jolie
Actress, Director
One day in Siem Reap, Cambodia, she picked up a book that was being sold on the side of the road for $2: Ung’s memoir. It was among the factors that inspired Jolie to find a greater purpose.
Books from Angelina Jolie

A Mighty Heart

For five weeks the world waited for news about Danny Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan...And then came the broadcast of his shocking murder. The complete account of his abduction, the intense effort to rescue him, and the aftermath are told here - in astonishing detail, and with courage and insight - by his surviving wife Mariane. A Mighty Heart is the unforgettable story of two journalists who fell in love with their work - and with each other. Together, Mariane and Danny Pearl traveled across the globe, dedicated to journalism that increases the under- standing of international politics and of ethnic and religious conflict. In the end, Danny was caught in the dangerous fissure where warring cultures, politics, and ideologies collide. A Mighty Heart is both a portrait of a partner- ship built on the ideals of love, truth, and justice and a critical look at the methods and structure of the Al Qaeda network.
Angelina Jolie
Actress, Director
A Mighty Heart, it was not a bitter book nor a book of broken faith. I read the book and Mariane and I got on really well as women, and we've since become really great friends.
Books from Angelina Jolie

Unbroken

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more.In boyhood, Louis Zamperini was an incorrigible delinquent. As a teenager, he channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics. But when World War II began, the athlete became an airman, embarking on a journey that led to a doomed flight on a May afternoon in 1943. When his Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, against all odds, Zamperini survived, adrift on a foundering life raft. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. Unbroken is an unforgettable testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit, brought vividly to life by Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand.Hailed as the top nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography and the Indies Choice Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year award “Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic.”—The Wall Street Journal “[A] one-in-a-billion story . . . designed to wrench from self-respecting critics all the blurby adjectives we normally try to avoid: It is amazing, unforgettable, gripping, harrowing, chilling, and inspiring.”—New York “Staggering . . . mesmerizing . . . Hillenbrand’s writing is so ferociously cinematic, the events she describes so incredible, you don’t dare take your eyes off the page.”—People “A meticulous, soaring and beautifully written account of an extraordinary life.”—The Washington Post “Ambitious and powerful . . . a startling narrative and an inspirational book.”—The New York Times Book Review “Magnificent . . . incredible . . . [Hillenbrand] has crafted another masterful blend of sports, history and overcoming terrific odds; this is biography taken to the nth degree, a chronicle of a remarkable life lived through extraordinary times.”—The Dallas Morning News “An astonishing testament to the superhuman power of tenacity.”—Entertainment Weekly “A tale of triumph and redemption . . . astonishingly detailed.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “[A] masterfully told true story . . . nothing less than a marvel.”—Washingtonian “[Hillenbrand tells this] story with cool elegance but at a thrilling sprinter’s pace.”—Time “Hillenbrand [is] one of our best writers of narrative history. You don’t have to be a sports fan or a war-history buff to devour this book—you just have to love great storytelling.”—Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Angelina Jolie
Actress, Director
She's such a brilliant writer and such a great lady! You read her book and you understand that this is not just the story of a hero, it's not about just an epic journey, it's so much about the journey of a man who became who he was.
Books from Angelina Jolie

No Visible Bruises

A NEW YORK TIMES, ECONOMIST, AND ESQUIREBOOK OF THE YEAR. Love, desire, intimacy -- we all know what these are meant to look like. But what happens when they descend into violence? Award-winning journalist Rachel Louise Snyder once believed all the common misconceptions about domestic violence: that it happens to an unlucky few; that it's a matter of poor choices; that if things are dire enough, victims will leave. Her perception changed when she began talking to the victims and perpetrators whose stories she tells in this book. Fearlessly reporting from the front lines of what the WHO has deemed a 'global epidemic', Snyder interviews men who have murdered their families, women who have nearly been murdered, and a range of professionals in advocacy and law enforcement, painting a vivid and nuanced picture of what happens when relationships go badly wrong. The problem is on the rise: an average of 137 women are killed by familial violence worldwide every day. Two women die at the hands of their partners each week in the UK. In the US, domestic homicides have increased by 32 per cent since 2017. And in South Africa, a woman is now killed every three hours. No Visible Bruisestells the intimate stories behind these headlines, and lays out the society-wide changes that are urgently needed to stop domestic violence in its tracks.
Angelina Jolie
Actress, Director
I’m reading the book No Visible Bruises, which points out that between 2000 and 2006 more American women died from domestic homicide than American soldiers died on the battlefield.