This inspiring narrative chronicles the journey of nine working-class American rowers from the University of Washington who, against all odds during the Great Depression, triumphed to represent their country at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It's a powerful testament to teamwork, resilience, and the pursuit of the American dream. The story beautifully intertwines their collective athletic achievement with profound personal struggles and triumphs.
This is the story of Joe Rantz, a charismatic young man born dirt poor in the woods of Washington State, who dreams of escaping the challenges of the Great Depression, and a complicated family life full of painful memories. What follows is an extraordinary journey, as Joe and 8 other young men exchange the sweat and graft and dust of ordinary life for the purer rigours of sport at its very highest level - a journey at the end of which lies a gold medal rowing race at the Berlin Olympics of 1936, in front of Hitler himself.
The #1 New York Times–bestselling story about the American Olympic rowing triumph in Nazi Germany—from the author of Facing the Mountain. Soon to be a major motion picture directed by George Clooney For readers of Unbroken, out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant. It was 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 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, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not only to regain his shattered self-regard but also to find a real place for himself in the world. Drawing on 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 extraordinary young man’s personal quest.
