The Boys in the Boat

Another book that came to me highly recommended by friends, Daniel James Brown's non-fiction saga The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (#534) lived up to its hype, I'm happy to say.  For some reason, it took me a long time to finish reading this book.  Not because I didn't find it interesting, but more, I think, because life kept interrupting.

Before reading this book, all I knew about rowing was from watching collegiate teams rowing on the Charles River in different configurations, and driving past the boathouses (Sorry, but no one I knew ever called these shell houses.) on either side of the river with my parents.  I watched the races during the Summer Olympics, and once or twice caught some of the action at the Head of the Charles Regatta.  I couldn't have told you anything about the skills or finesse required for this sport other than that it looked like hard work to me.  Some have praised The Boys in the Boat with a caveat: that you'll learn more than you have wanted to know about rowing.  I disagree with that opinion.  So few people have actual experience of this type of athletic endeavor that understanding the elements that make up a superior performance in the sport is essential: build, muscles, conditioning, brains and brawn for starters, and the technical skills that go into the building of a racing shell and plying its oars are only the beginning.  The art of racing here is between the athlete's ears, and it must be done in conjunction and in perfect union with his or her entire crew.  Nowhere else is the quote "There is no "I" in TEAM" more applicable.  So sue me.  I found it all fascinating. Imagine my surprise at Thanksgiving to find that we have a promising budding rower in our own family!

And that is only one aspect of this remarkable story.  Just who made up this University of Washington crew and how they became America's Olympic team, out-powering their Cal State rivals and elite Eastern rowing teams is astonishing.  The US Olympic Establishment tried to block them, but the Huskies, as in facing and overcoming other obstacles, found a way to claim that berth. 

Juxtaposed against this story of nine rugged individuals, their coaches and their British-born shell builder, is the story of the propaganda coup the Germans were waging for the world's regard in staging a spectacular Olympic Games, the like of which had never been seen before.  I would love to someday see German film maker Leni Riefenstahl's epic movie Olympia some day.  Although she was working for Adolf Hitler, the film includes extensive footage of the American victory in eight man crew.

The photos included in The Boys in the Boat make the people and places in this story come alive.  Thanks, Daniel James Brown, for making them live again in our minds.