Worth Books - Summary and Analysis of The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics: Based on the Book by Daniel James Brown

Summary and Analysis of

The Boys in the Boat

Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

Based on the Book by Daniel James Brown

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Contents

Context

Author Daniel James Brown didnt know very much about the sport of rowing when he began to research and write The Boys in the Boat . As he described to World Rowing, This story literally walked into my living room one day. He was introduced to his neighbors father, who was on the rowing team that won gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. That man was Joe Rantz.

The year was 2007 and Joe Rantz, a fan of Browns earlier works, and living under hospice care at his daughters house, regaled Brown with stories of his youth and his incredible journey. From growing up during the Depression to attending the University of Washington, to participating in the Olympics, Rantzs story was exceptional and inspiring.

It is no surprise that Rantza team player, through and throughgave his permission for Daniel James Brown to write about his storyas long as he told the story of the whole crew.

For todays audience, rowing, or crew, might be considered a sport of the wealthy, the privileged, the Ivy League. However, Joe Rantz and his teammates came from humble origins: the sons of working-class familiesor young men supporting themselves through hard times.

The scholarship and research that followed this first meeting resulted in The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics . The book can be read and appreciated on several levels: It is the story of how Joe Rantz rose above his incredibly difficult childhood; it is the personal stories of eight young men who struggled and persevered, learned from their elders, and worked as a team to win gold at the 1936 Olympics; and it is the story of America as it made its way through the challenging years of the Depression, to come face to face with Adolf Hitler.

Contemporary readers have the benefit of hindsight; the athletes and coaches who made history in 1936 could not have known what was in store for Europe and humanity at the hands of the Nazis. And though the host country won five out of seven rowing gold medals, the eight-man racethe event that required the greatest level of coordination and teamworkis the very race in which the US triumphed.

In a 2013 interview with the Seattle Times , Daniel James Brown says The Boys in the Boat is about life, struggle and finding the boundary between yourself and a larger purpose.

Overview

Its 1933, and the University of Washingtons rowing team, led by Al Ulbrickson, has big ambitions. His schools pimary rival, the University of California at Berkeley, has sent teams to the 1928 and 1932 Olympics, winning gold medals both times, and Ulbrickson believes that his school should represent the United States in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

One of the freshman trying out for the team that year is Joe Rantz, a local boy with a tragic backstory. After losing his mother at young age, he never had a steady home, bouncing between families and being kicked out of the house by his stepmother twice. By age 15, hes completely self-sufficient, doing menial jobs to pay the bills while remaining a good student.

He scrapes together the money to attend college, with hopes of marrying his high school sweetheart, Joyce. Years of manual labor have made him strong and resilient, qualities that will serve him well on the rowing team. He earns a spot on the freshman team, and his boat begins to set records for freshman races, winning every regatta they attend. This is watched with great interest by Ulbrickson and George Pocock, a boatbuilder and former rower who often advises the Washington rowing team.

For the next two years, Ulbrickson tinkers with the lineup, trying to find the perfect combination for 1936, sometimes choosing the wrong athletes and suffering heartbreaking losses to Cal. By 1936, though, hes found a group of ideal rowersincluding Joe Rantzand they win all of their domestic races. Over time, the team develops an easy camaraderie, rowing together in such perfect unison that they are unstoppable.

In the summer of 1936, Ulbrickson takes Rantz and the team to the Olympic trials in Princeton, where they win easily. They then set sail for Berlin, where the Nazis have been preparing for the games for years. Theyve built a massive new stadium and are focusing on perfectly organized PR to improve their image worldwide.

The US Olympians arrive to effusive greetings and a shining Berlin, masking the horrors that are already being perpetrated in Germany under Adolf Hitler. In the rowing competition, the US qualifies for the finals in their first heat, and is set to face off against Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the UK, and Hungary in the race. Despite one of their key rowers being incredibly ill, the team squeaks out a narrow victory, winning the gold medal for the United States, and returning home champions over the Ivy League, over the Nazis, and over the world.

Summary

Prologue

Author Daniel James Brown meets the father of his neighbor, ex-Olympic rower Joe Rantz, and learns about his incredible life.

Part One: 18991933: What Seasons They Have Been Through

Chapter One

America in 1933 is broken, filled with poverty, homelessness, and despair. Franklin Delano Roosevelt has just been elected president; Hitler has just come to power in Germany. Hitler and his cohorts, including architect Werner March, are planning to build an impressive new stadium for the 1936 Olympics as a sign of Nazi power.

At the University of Washington in Seattle, Joe Rantz and Roger Morris are trying out for the freshman rowing team thats coached by Tom Bolles. For Rantz, getting on the team is of particular importance; its his only shot of staying in college. Rowing on the West Coast is defined by a rivalry between Washington and the University of California at Berkeley (Cal). Cals team had won the Olympic gold medal in 1932, and Washingtons head coach Al Ulbrickson is looking to the freshman recruits with hopes of bringing the Washington rowing team to the Olympics for the first time in 1936.

Need to Know

Its 1933, and the University of Washington is holding tryouts for its freshman rowing team, while the Nazis plan to host the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

Chapter Two

Joe Rantz is born in Spokane, Washington, in 1914 to Harry and Nellie Rantz. His mother dies of throat cancer when he is young, kicking off a tragic childhood for Rantz, who will bounce around before settling with his father; new stepmother, Thula; and their two sons. Thula becomes frustrated with her stepson, and kicks him out of the house at age ten. He begins working for his food and shelter and learning about self-reliance.

Need to Know

Thanks to a tough childhood, Joe Rantz has been supporting himself since the age of ten.

Chapter Three

Rowing is an incredibly demanding activity, one that uses almost all the muscles in the body. The Washington freshmen start practicing and learning the craft, and, over the course of a few weeks, men start dropping out. Joe Rantz and Roger Morris remain.

Overseeing these tryouts is George Pocock, a British rower and boatbuilder who builds all of the shells for the school, as well as boats for other institutions around the country. Having descended from several generations of boatbuilders, he was recruited by Washington in 1912 and ends up assisting in the rowing instruction of the teams, becoming an institution at the university.