The Boys in the Boat by Daniel J. Brown is an outstanding story about the University of Washington’s eight-man rowing team. Against the odds and enumerable challenges, the boys in the boat triumphed to win a gold medal at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. The book’s strength arises from the multiple plotlines Brown follows throughout the book: the individual lives of the rowers and coaches, the art of rowing, racing adventures, and world history. These points all come together in a crescendo of emotions and foretelling at Hitler’s Olympic games.
The Rowers and Coaches
The spine of Brown’s books is the intimate portrait of Joe Rantz and all the other men who played a role in the remarkable 1936 quest for Olympic gold. Individually the boys faced hardship. Rantz, for instance, was essentially abandoned by his family as a boy and then again as a teen, he lived in extremely poor conditions, and had to work to survive. As Joe Rantz recalled decades later, he didn’t have energy to be upset by his circumstances. He spent his energy on improving his life.
Some of the other rowers had similar stories. The coaches, Al Ulbrickson and George Pocock had their own experiences, but theirs were more the professional in nature – the ups and downs of coaching and loving rowing. The historical context for the story ads a texture because the world events swirling around affected everyone. The Great Depression knocked good people down, the Dust Bowl pushed west, and the aftermath of the Great Was still clouded people’s perceptions like the densest fog. These were tough days for America corporately, and Americans individually.
In addition to Joe Rantz, the main players in Brown’s story are coach Al Ubrickson, boat builder George Pocock, coxswain Bobby Moch, and rower Don Hume. Shorty Hunt, Chuck Day, Stub McMillian, Johnny White, Gordy Adam, and Roger Morris where the other heroes of the 1936 Olympic games. And of course, the Husky Clipper, the racing shell build by Pocock which remains hanging in the boat house at the University of Washington.
Collectively, they all overcame tremendous challenges. Aside from their working-class backgrounds and the growling conditions during the great depression, they faced changes together on the water. In those days, rowing was an East Coast sport – the rich kids from the Ivy league dominated it. The boys from Washington, however, totally shifted that perception.Throughout they had to face impossible circumstances like the terrible Washington weather and lopsided expectations.
One of the more annoying scenes is when the Washington boat won nationals and then the Olympic committee sprung on them they would have to pay for their travel to Berlin. The working class kids from Washington, the committee knew, had no financial resources. So the committee suggested Penn or Yale go to the Olympics instead because they could afford it.
The Art of Rowing
Rowing at the time was a major American and international sport. As Brown points out, behind track and field, rowing was the second most popular event at the 1936 Olympics. The races often unfolded in front of a hundred thousand spectators lined along lakes or rivers. As George Pocock wrote:
“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 fundamentally important lessons in the racing shell than in the classroom.”
Expanding on a description of what it take to row, Brown writes:
“Competitive rowing is an undertaking of extraordinary beauty preceded by brutal punishment. Unlike most sports, which draw primarily on particular muscle groups, rowing makes heavy and repeated use of virtually every muscle in the body…”
In addition to perfect timing, grueling physical punishment, and mental discipline, the equipment matter. The famed boat builder, George Pocock, played a pivotal role in the teams success because he built the boat, The Husky Clipper, As Brown writes, “George Pocock didn’t just build boats, he sculpted the best racing shells.”
Racing Adventures
Joe Rantz and the freshman team showed up with a purpose – these guys had to win to stay in school. So, they persevered as Freshman to win nationals after beating a fantastic Cal team. They went on to success as Sophomores, again winning every race that year and another national title. As Juniors, coach Ubrickson played with serval combinations, but ultimately the core of the varsity squad was the same boat that had never lost a race – those same freshman, including Joe Rantz.
That team, the team coach Ubrickson predicted would win it all, did in fact win every race – they beat Cal and the West cost teams. They went on to beat the Ivy Leaguers and won another national title. And, then they beat all the fancy schools again to qualify for the Olympics.
“They were now representatives of something much larger than themselves – a way of life, shared set of values. Liberty was perhaps the most fundamental of those values. But the things that held them together – trusting one another, mutual respect, humility, fair play, watching out for one another – those were also part of what America meant to all of them. And right along with a passion for liberty, those were the things they were about to take to Berlin and lay before the world.”
The heat to make the medal round:
“Still, the British bow remained out in front of the American bow with 150 meters to go. But the American boys had found their swing and they were holding on to it. They were rowing as hard as they had ever rowed, taking huge sweeping cuts at the water, over and over again, rocking into the beat as if they were forged together, approaching forty strokes per minute. Every muscle, tendon, and ligament in their bodies was burning with pain, but they were rowing beyond pain, rowing in perfect, flawless harmony. Nothing was going to stop them. In the last twenty strokes, and particularly in the final twelve gorgeous strokes, they simply powered past the British boat, decisively and unambiguously. The twenty-five thousand international fans in the stands – a good portion of them Americans – rose and cheered them as their bow knifed across the line a full twenty feet ahead of the British shell. A moment later, Don Hume pitched forward and collapsed across his oar.”
World History
Brown brilliantly weaves into the story all the titanic events swirling around. The great depression, the dust bowl, the aftermath of the great war, and the run up to the Second World War are all seamlessly sewn into the fabric of Brown’s book. Each of these events shaped the Washington rowing team, and they shaped the entire world.
The greatest of the world events Brown integrates into the story is the Nazis. The Olympic games were a giant deception. People sensed Hitler was bad, so he created a propaganda machine like none in world history, and it worked. Hitler used the 1936 Olympics to deceive the world while he built a mighty military. As soon as the games were over, and the world thought he was not so bad, blood ran through the streets again and Germany prepared for war.
Against this backdrop, the boys rowed.
The Boys in the Boat: Movie v. Book
Pretty faces, one liners, and dramatic music are good, but they pale when compared with the intimate stories told in the book. The book explores each of the characters, especially Joe, in much greater detail than the movie. Knowing the characters better, endears us to them. It helps us feel their pain and their joy.
Moreover, our brains pull a psychological trick when we read. Because we can’t see the scenes and the characters, we pull from our own memories and experiences to fill in the blanks. In this way, our own lives become emersed in the story – we become connected. Our imaginations work in tandem with the storyteller.
There are other reason people like books over movies like the writing is better and the act of reading is more engaging. While the movie is good, nothing beats a great book – especially this one.
The Finish Line
The book is a testament to the American spirit. Brown contemplates in the final pages if Hitler new his fate as he watched the American boys’ steely determination. Who knows if a madman like Hitler consciously or subconsciously understood the American rowers who crushed Germany that day were the same types of boys who would later crush him.
In the end, Brown’s book stands as a testament to the resiliency of America, and millions of Americans who through the years have persevered in one way or another to make life better. It’s a classic story of boys without a chance in the world, overcoming and achieving greatness – not just in their racing shell, but in life.
Occasionally, I turn to my wife and say, “I don’t want to finish it.” She, very sensibly, encourages me not to miss the ending. This was one of those books I was sad to finish, not just because I enjoyed the book so much but because I enjoyed meeting ordinary people who did extradentary things.
“And so they passed away, loved and remembered for all that they were – not just Olympic oarsmen but good men, one and all.”
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