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- Verified Buyer
The Boys in the Boat 2013 Daniel James Brown opens a window on human peril post WWI, The Great Depression, the propaganda of the Nazi Third Reich, and the quiet struggles of individuals to shelter, eat and survive.In 2006 nonfiction author Daniel James Brown finished Under a Flaming Sky the history of devastating unpredictable wildfire. He gathered neighbors in his new home to discuss coordinated fire prevention. His next door neighbor Judy Rantz Willman had read his book aloud to her father Joe Rantz, who was under hospice care at her home. Judy asked DJB to meet her dad Joe and listen to Joe's story. Judy had collected photos, letters, memorabilia of the U of Washington 8 man rowing team which won Olympic gold in 1936 Berlin.Daniel James Brown took 6 years to research, interview crew members and their families, collate the diaries, newspaper accounts, weather data and recollections of the rowing champions. Then he compiled the outcome for the boys of '36 and their life outcomes. Online Seattle TV news clips show the men as they age.The Boys in the Boat inspired multiple documentaries PBS The Boys of '36, unearthed Leni Reifenstahl's Olympia the Nazi propaganda film which intended to hide Nazi war preparations under a veil of peaceful friendliness, and highlighted the Greatest Generation American aspirations for educational effort, self-respect, and honest work. Most videos online are 8-10 years old released in response to the book's original publication.The Boys in the Boat is written at the 4th-8th grade literacy level, simple vocabulary and grammar.The ability to allow oneself to depend on others, to trust that others have your back, is a story of collaboration, cooperation, harmony and poetry; like doctor groups who rely on others to cover patients when they are not on call, and who step up to respond when someone is in need.Sometimes an individual is fortunate enough to be wrapped in a golden haze of synchrony, caring and support. This is the story of just such a moment, a group of boys, water, a philosopher-artisan crafted shell and political history.The online Seattle TV news reports of the 10year reunions of the 8man crew to row the Husky Clipper together until they became too frail and too few to continue are inspirational.The Boys in the Boat opens a whole world to a those who row only for recreation on whitewater, about the potential for spiritual uplift in cooperating and trusting in others.The Boys in the Boat is a true story of starving boys who joined the U of Washington crew for the promise of food, shelter and work plus an education during the Great Depression. None had ever rowed before in competition. The boys were sons of fishermen, loggers, mill workers. Some worked on the Grand Coulee Dam to make enough money for tuition books and food. The boys learned to depend on one another for their safety.Joe Rantz and his Husky Clipper crew remind me of neighbors, fathers, brothers, friendly open hearted smiling boys. One UW crew member turned 19 on the day of the opening ceremony of the Olympics 1936 Berlin.George Pocock the Eton craftsman who built, polished and lovingly repaired most of the wooden shells which competed in 1930-40 rowing was a gentle man and well read scholar.Al Ulbrickson the UDub coach was severe and restrained of speech, single minded in his pursuit of excellence in rower character, mind and body: no alcohol, no smoking, no fried food. Eat healthy fresh vegetables and protein like you mother cooks at home. Crews have the highest GPA of all athletes at UW.The epilogue details the life outcomes of the boys grown into men who crewed for UW in 1936: coxswain Bobby Moch Seattle lawyer, the rest a mix of engineers who built planes for Boeing during WWII.Joe Rantz died age 93 a few months after meeting Daniel James Brown, after interviews but before the book was finished. In his 70s Joe Rantz built fencing around his daughter Judy's home with wood he had carried, split and set enclosing her entire property.5* true story reading pleasure. I read it twice.
