In 1936, nine college kids surprised the world with a stunning victory over the German Olympic machine to take the gold medal right out from under Hitler’s nose. The Boys in the Boat tells their story.

Daniel James Brown tells this story mostly through the eyes of Joe Rantz, one of the oarsmen on the gold medal team. Rantz essentially raises himself after being abandoned at the age of 10, works hard, and gets admitted to the University of Washington. Joining the crew team not only gives him a place to belong but helps him understand how to depend on others again.

The Pacific Northwest during the Great Depression is far from a crew powerhouse. But under the guidance of an enigmatic coach and a carpenter-turned philosopher, Rantz and his crew teammates upend the rowing world and figure out what it means to work as a team.

“It takes energy to get angry. It eats you up inside. I can’t waste my energy like that and expect to get ahead. When they left, it took everything I had in me just to survive. Now I have to stay focused. I’ve just gotta take care of it myself”

“What mattered more than how hard a man rowed was how well everything he did in the boat harmonized with what the other fellows were doing. And a man couldn’t harmonize with his crewmates unless he opened his heart to them. He had to care about his crew.”

“Harmony, balance, and rhythm. They’re the three things that stay with you your whole life. Without them civilization is out of whack. And that’s why an oarsman, when he goes out in life, he can fight it, he can handle life. That’s what he gets from rowing. —George Yeoman Pocock”

My Three Takeaways

The Great Depression Sucked

I guess I could have assumed that. But, reading first hand that havoc it created in the life of families who had to make the choice of starving to death together or leaving family members behind to fend for themselves is heartbreaking. Much has been said about the generations who fought in the World Wars. That stock grew strong in the difficult circumstances in which they were born and spent their childhood. In the age of Millenials and entitlement, reading about the world that these young men grew up in and endured is quite humbling.

Nazi Germany Was Sneaky

Again, maybe I am showing my age, but I guess I just always figured that the Nazi party came on the scene and their ultimate plan was obvious to everyone. Maybe it was to people on the inside, but it seems most of the world was lulled to sleep until the only solution left was to take them down. Hitler and Germany form an interest sub-plot in this story. You know where the story is going, you know they will race the Nazi’s, you know they will beat them. But, it is interesting to hear what the athletes’ perceptions were during their time spent in what would become one of the most brutal, repressive, and evil regimes ever.

We Need Other People

Joe Rantz is one of the toughest men I have ever read about. Physically and emotionally he makes me look like a wuss. But, as tough as he was and as much as he endured he could not do life alone. None of us can. The myth of Amercian Individualism is just that… a myth, devoid of any real power. Rowing on a crew team for the University of Washington and ultimately for the United States taught Joe that truth. There is a principle in crew called “swing”. It is when all 8 oarsmen and their coxswain are all moving in perfect harmony. Each stroke is timed perfectly, each person in sync with one another. When this happens the boat becomes more than the sum of its parts. It takes on a life of its own.

I don’t know what it would look like to develop a “swing” in our community’s life together. Each person in touch with our neighbors needs and working to meet them. I think I have felt something like it on a small scale at times in my life. It was just enough to make me what to experience it more.