The Boys in the Boat

Joe offered me an extraordinarily long, thin hand. Judy had been reading one of my books aloud to Joe, and he wanted to meet me and talk about it. As a young man, he had, by extraordinary coincidence, been a friend of Angus Hay Jr. the son of a person central to the story of that book. So we talked about that for a while. Then the conversation began to turn to his own life.

His voice was reedy, fragile, and attenuated almost to the breaking point. From time to time he faded into silence. Slowly, though, with cautious prompting from his daughter, he began to spin out some of the threads of his life story. Recalling his childhood and his young adulthood during the Great Depression, he spoke haltingly but resolutely about a series of hardships he had endured and obstacles he had overcome, a tale that, as I sat taking notes, at first surprised and then astonished me.

But it wasn t until he began to talk about his rowing career at the University of Washington that he started, from time to time, to cry. He talked about learning the art of rowing, about shells and oars, about tactics and technique. He reminisced about long, cold hours on the water under steel-gray skies, about smashing victories and defeats narrowly averted, about traveling to Germany and marching under Hitler s eyes into the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, and about his crewmates. None of these recollections brought him to tears, though. It was when he tried to talk about the boat that his words began to falter and tears welled up in his bright eyes.

At first I thought he meant the Husky Clipper, the racing shell in which he had rowed his way to glory. Or did he mean his teammates, the improbable assemblage of young men who had pulled off one of rowing s greatest achievements? Finally, watching Joe struggle for composure over and over, I realized that the boat was something more than just the shell or its crew. To Joe, it encompassed but transcended both it w

the many pleasures in Daniel James Brown s colorful, highly readable celebration of a grueling collegiate challenge. Bloomberg News

Brown s book juxtaposes the coming together of the Washington crew team against the Nazis preparations for the Games, weaving together a history that feels both intimately personal and weighty in its larger historical implications. This book has already been bought for cinematic development, and it s easy to see why: When Brown, a Seattle-based nonfiction writer, describes a race, you feel the splash as the oars slice the water, the burning in the young men s muscles and the incredible drive that propelled these rowers to glory. Smithsonian Magazine

   Those who enjoy reading about Olympic history or amateur or collegiate sports will savor Brown s superb book
Library Journal (Starred)

  [Brown] offers a vivid picture of the socioeconomic landscape of 1930s America (brutal), the relentlessly demanding effort required of an Olympic-level rower, the exquisite brainpower and materials that go into making a first-rate boat, and the wiles of a coach who somehow found a way to, first beat archrival University of California, then conquer a national field of qualifiers, and finally, defeat the best rowing teams in the world. A book that informs as it inspires.
Booklist (Starred)

An evocative, cinematic prose [Brown] makes his heroes struggle as fascinating as the best Olympic sagas.
Publishers Weekly

The story deserves a more visible place in history, and Brown has brought it to light in a way that will appeal to readers regardless of their knowledge of our interest in rowing or wooden boats.  It s a story about universal human values: striving for excellence and the triumph of teamwork. WoodenBoat Magazine

Every sport needs its laureate. With THE BOYS IN THE BOAT, crew has found its voice in Daniel James Brown, who tells a thrilling, heart-thumping tale of a most remarkable band of rowing brothers who upstaged Adolf Hitler at the 1936 Olympics.  Well-told history, packed with suspense and a likable bunch of underdogs at the heart of an improbable triumph. Timothy Egan, author of The Worst Hard Time

For years I ve stared and wondered about the old wooden boat resting on the top rack of the UW boathouse. I knew the names of the men that rowed it but never really knew who they were. After reading this book, I feel like I got to relive their journey and witness what it was truly like earning a seat in that Pocock shell. The passion and determination showed by Joe and the rest of the boys in the boat are what every rower aspires to. I will never look at that wooden boat the same again. Mary Whipple, Olympic gold medal winning coxswain, women s eight-oared crew, 2008 and 2012

THE BOYS IN THE BOAT is not only a great and inspiring true story; it is a fascinating work of history.
Nathaniel Philbrick, author of Mayflower and In the Heart of the Sea

In 1936 nine working-class American boys burst from their small towns into the international limelight, unexpectedly wiping the smile off Adolph Hitler s face by beating his vaunted German team to capture the Olympic gold medal.  Daniel James Brown has written a robust, emotional snapshot of an era, a book you will recommend to your best friends.
James Bradley, author of Flags of our Fathers and Flyboys

THE BOYS IN THE BOAT is an exciting blend of history and Olympic sport. I was drawn in as much by the personal stories as I was by the Olympic glory. A must read for anyone looking to be inspired!
Luke Mcgee, USA Rowing Men s National Team Coach

I really can t rave enough about this book.  Daniel James Brown has not only captured the hearts and souls of the University of Washington rowers who raced in the 1936 Olympics, he has conjured up an era of history.  Brown s evocation of Seattle in the Depression years is dazzling, his limning of character, especially the hardscrabble hero Joe Rantz, is novelistic, his narration of the boat races and the sinister-exalted atmosphere of Berlin in 1936 is cinematic.  I read the last fifty pages with white knuckles, and the last twenty-five with tears in my eyes.  History, sports, human interest, weather, suspense, design, physics, oppression and inspiration THE BOYS IN THE BOAT has it all and Brown does full justice to his terrific material.  This is Chariots of Fire with oars.
David Laskin, author of The Children s Blizzard  and  The Long Way Home

A lovingly crafted saga of sweat and idealism that raised goosebumps from the first page. I was enthralled by the story s play of light and shadow, of mortality and immortality, and its multidimensional recreation of the pursuit of excellence. This meditation on human frailty and possibility sneaks up on you until it rushes past with the speed of an eight-oared boat. Laurence Bergreen, author of Columbus and Over the Edge of the World

Daniel Brown s book tells the dramatic story of the crew that set the stage for Seattle emerging as a world-class city. Their lives define the tradition that is still University of Washington rowing today.
Bob Ernst, director of rowing, University of Washington