The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

Author: Daniel James Brown

Location: Seattle, Washington & Berlin, Germany

Publisher: Penguin Books

Published: June 4, 2013

There are a limited amount of books worth keeping on your book shelf year after year. There are only a handful that you would ever recommend to anyone who may have a spark of interest. There are only a few that can make you feel like you were there.

The Boys in the Boat about the "Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown is one you won't easily forget.

In the years leading up to the 1936 Berlin Olympics the world and the United States had already seen incredible fear and turmoil. In Seattle, Washington it was much of the same. The Great Depression is generally marked with the starting date of October 29, 1929 when the stock market crashed in the United States. The depression lasted until the late 1930's and has become an example of just how far the world's economy can decline.

(The 1936 Olympic Lineup, Stern to Coxswain: Don Hume, Joe Rantz, George "Shorty" Hunt, Jim "Stub" McMillin, John White, Gordon Adam, Charles Day, Roger Morris, Bobby Moch.)

Across the country young men and women starved, stole and survived. Joe Rantz was just one of these children. After years of surviving on his own and doing things his own way in order to do so Joe found himself a member of the University of Washington's rowing team. Everything he had learned in the years before was now being pulled apart and questioned by his new mentors and teammates.

Among them was George Pocock and Al Ulbrickson. Fine, timeless and inspirational men like these do not come along very often. Their few chosen words were the ultimate game changer for the boys who would eventually shake the world.

"Every good rowing coach, in his own way, imparts to his men the kind of self-discipline required to achieve the ultimate from mind, heart, and body. Which is why most ex-oarsmen will tell you they learned more fundamental important lessons in the racing shells than in the classroom." - George Yoeman Pocock

Without giving too much away one has to suspect that this kind of story will leave the audience wanting more. At the same time Brown has done what many rowers find difficult doing themselves. This is, putting into words the moment when you cross the finish line. The feeling associated with getting that perfect stroke in time with your teammates. The pain that encompasses you at to the same beat, bonds you to the men or women behind and in front of you.

"It's not a question of whether you will hurt, or of how much you will hurt; it's a question of what you will do, and how well you will do it, while pain has her wanton way with you." - Brown, The Boys in the Boat

(The gold medal finish. Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Great Britain, and the United States of America in the far lane.)

This may seem to others the kind of story which only fits a specific niche, the rowers of the world or the over-achievers of sports knowledge. It is just another book about the '36 Olympics and the start of WWII. Wrong. It is for anyone who finds themselves looking for a story of truth, grit, strength and possibilities.

Do yourself a favor. Pick up a copy, borrow one of the hundreds circling the office, steal one from your parents house. You won't regret it.

Next step: the big screen!