The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James BrownMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Actually winning "Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" doesn't happen until there is about a score of pages left out of nearly a 400-page book. While the history starts with author meeting Joe Ranz -- one of "The Boys in the Boat" -- this is not a where-are-they-know, or a story of how this significant victory played out. Such matters are briskly covered in a few pages of epilogue. Instead, we are taken back to when rowing crew was followed with the passion of today's major sports like football or baseball. (At one point, some 80,000 attended a regional race in the Pacific Northwest) At this time there was an east-west rivalry in America between the costs and a Washington-California state rivalry beside the quadrennial Olympics push. So, what arises in an era of Depression woes and impending WW II devastation, plucky, resourceful and hard-working Washington boys forge themselves into a world-class team under capable coaching and with the sage-like wisdom of master boat builder, the renowned artisan George Pocock whose aphorisms serve as chapter headings.
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