The Boys in the Boat

My book group read this while I was in Italy but friend, Anne Zald, had sent it to me and I still wanted to read it. Wow! What a compelling account that made it hard to put down, even though I already knew how it ended. This is an arcing narrative leading to the University of Washington's 8 man crew going to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and, against all odds, winning the gold medal.
Along the way we follow mainly one of the ultimate crew members, Joe Rantz, who came from a tumultuous childhood. Often living in poverty, abandoned by his father and family several times, he nevertheless had the determination to survive, scrape together a living, and put himself through 4 years of engineering school at the UW. And he married his high school sweetheart and raised a family. Really a remarkable man. But then they all were. The training schedule endured by these young men was simply torturous and author, Daniel James Brown, makes the reader feel every freezing, painful, exhilarating moment of those times. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Great story, very competent writing, and inspirational.