The Boys in the Boat

There is nothing better than finishing an outstanding book from the list of RA Favorites.  This one was one of the better books I have read in quite some time.  The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown is the real life story of the 1936 Olympic Gold winning crew team from the University of Washington (UW).  Brown met one of the members from the UW team, Joe Rantz, when he visited his home one day to learn more about the history of the team a year before his death and 70+ years after the Olympics.  George only agreed to tell the story if he in fact told the whole story, and not just about him.  So began the initial journey back to the days before the depression in the Western US, where a poor young son (Joe) was born into a family in which he lost his mother at a very young age, had his aunt become his stepmother, be removed from the family because of the four new children and the inability for his family to provide for him.  Joe went on his own as a teenager, made it to college, joined the crew team and entered the dream of a lifetime.  The author does an impeccable job of capturing the relationships among the men, the challenges of the day by painting the bleak picture of a stark world, and even the perspiration that occurred with every stroke the team made on the journey.  As a reader I was totally engrossed in the various battles for making the team, competing against UC Berkeley, Cornell, and eventually the world at the 1936 games.  But the most important aspect of the book was the backdrop in which the world was in the midst of dealing, the developing Nazi nation in Germany led by Adolf Hitler.  The stories fit perfect and throughout I was moved by the emotional upheaval of the men fighting to win, pay for college, and understand the world was being besieged by a new type of enemy, which would be much more known after the Olympics.  The lessons I learned about World War II were enhanced by having a better context of the foundation that Hitler was developing through the propaganda war that his staff was creating for the rest of the world.  This is an outstanding book, presenting the glamour of athletic triumph and the various stories of the individual who comprised the team.   I will read this book again.  I hear it is a movie and while not a big fan of the big screen, this will be one to watch!  Read this one!