The Boys In The Boat

by Daniel James Brown 

Read December 2017

The wonderful story of the 1936 USA Olympic rowing team from the University of Washington.  The writer not only provides an excellent description of the challenges and realities of rowing, but brings forth the reality of the 1930's and the real struggles of a nation in the depths of the Great Depression.  While rowing had an elitist reputation in the Eastern US, the crews from Seattle were from the opposite end of the economic spectrum.  That did not stop them from handily beating first all other US schools and then taking on the rest of the world.  The narration of the race for the gold must be read to be appreciated.

One paragraph summary

Where is the spiritual value of rowing? ... The losing of self entirely to the cooperative effort of the crew as a whole.

- George Yoeman Pocock

(This is a bit of a cheat, each chapter starts with a quote from George Pocock.  These quotes are gold.)