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

The #1

For readers of Unbroken, out of the depths of the Depression comes an impossible to resist story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the implausible, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit actually meant.

It was once 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 once 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, an adolescent without circle of relatives or prospects, who rows not only to regain his shattered self-regard but also to find a real place for himself on the planet. Drawing at 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 odd young man’s personal quest.