The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown Paperback Book

Details

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

Author: Daniel James Brown

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Publisher: Penguin Books

Published: May 2014

Genre: Sports & Recreation - Olympics

Retail Price: $9.99

Pages: 576

Synopsis

The #1 New York Times–bestselling story about American Olympic triumph in Nazi Germany, now in a premium mass market edition. Available just in time for The 80th anniversary of the boys’ gold medal win as well as the 8/2 broadcast of the PBS /American Experience documentary, The Boys of ’36. and the start of the 2016 Summer Olympics.For readers of Unbroken, out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant. It was an unlikely quest from the start. With a team composed of the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington’s eight-oar crew team was never expected to defeat the elite teams of the East Coast and Great Britain, yet they did, going on to shock the world by defeating the German team rowing for Adolf Hitler. The emotional heart of the tale lies with Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not only to regain his shattered self-regard but also to find a real place for himself in the world. Drawing on the boys’ own journals and vivid memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, Brown has created an unforgettable portrait of an era, a celebration of a remarkable achievement, and a chronicle of one extraordinary young man’s personal quest.

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Reviews

BookLender review by Debbie on 2015-11-17 12:43:08

Two things: You might have to be a rower. I took it up when I was 50 something, and that made it fascinating for me. Secondly, one has to realize how people talked in those days. A modern day reader would have a hard time umnderstanding how naive boys and girls were then. It is easy to say it is boring and be snide about this book.Too bad for those who dont have a historical perspective.This is an excellent book by a writer who had the ability to take us back to those times.