Between the Great Depression and a crippling drought that struck the United States, everyone was reeling in the mid-1930’s. But nine college students decide to buck the odds and row their way toward Olympic gold.
Between the Great Depression and a crippling drought that struck the United States, everyone was reeling in the mid-1930’s. But nine college students decide to buck the odds and row their way toward Olympic gold.
When Joe Rantz first stepped into the University of Washington’s shell house—a weather-beaten old building featuring rows of long sleek racing shells stacked four high on wooden racks—it wasn’t because he had a passion for eight-man crew racing. He actually knew pretty much nothing about the sport. He’d never even seen one of the sport’s twelve-foot-long oars, much less tried to lift one.
But he was strong. And very poor. And if he wanted to stay in school, he needed some financial help.
Rowing crew wouldn’t earn him a scholarship. But there was an unspoken guarantee that the boys who made the team would also get a part-time job somewhere that would help them scrounge up some desperately needed tuition money. And boy, did Joe need that.
Problem was, there were well over a hundred Washington freshmen who signed the register for crew. And that number would be whittled down to a mere handful who would actually make the freshman squad.
Little did that crowd of farm boys, fishermen and loggers know what would winnow them out of the flock, however. They were ignorant of the hours they’d spend rowing in the frigid cold, the pain, the misery that would drive many to look for other options.
Not only does rowing cause your lungs to groan and muscles to scream in agony almost from the outset of a race: the skeletal system is impacted, too. Competitive rowers experience a wide variety of ills in the knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, ribs, neck and, above all, the spine. They’ll suffer everything from blisters to a slipped vertebrae to fractures of the ribs.
Joe knew nothing of this. But he did know something about hard work, suffering and pain. He and so many others were in the thick, or rather thin, of a national depression, after all. And Joe had been fending for himself—doing heavy physical labor just to survive—since he was 14. So he determined he’d stick it out. He’d shoulder the pain and do whatever it took to be on the team.
Washington’s crew head coach, Al Ulbrickson, wasn’t, however, simply looking for boys who could stick around and endure. He was looking for winners. He wanted young men he could hammer into Olympics-worthy steel. Against all odds, he was determined that the University of Washington would beat the Eastern elites and the West Coast powerhouses and head off to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
A freshman named Joe Rantz would be one of that rare few.
The Rantz family attended the Central Christian Church. But after Joe’s mom died when he was a boy, that all changed. Joe’s father deserted the family in his grief and the remaining kids (Joe was just 5 years old) had to make do as best they could.
That said, most of the people in their small community were churched. When Joe was older, he began spending time with a teen girl named Joyce. The book mentions that she and her family were part of the Christian Science church and very devout. They believed that “prayer and only prayer could heal afflictions,” and “doctors were a waste of time.”
Joe and Joyce fell in love and were devoted to one another, and we’re told that they married after graduating from college.
Several other forms of belief and quasi-belief mentioned in the book. One is an “almost reverent” attitude that racing shell-builder George Pocock has for different types of wood.
German Nazism is said to be “becoming not just a political thing but a spiritual one” to the devout in the party. And we hear of numerous instances where German citizens and Nazi officers follow Hitler’s orders and desires with an almost religious fervency. In turn, Hitler attempts to aggrandize German Aryan purity.
And, of course, the abuse of Germany’s Jewish citizens is a large part of the ongoing story of the early 1930’s—a murderous mistreatment that Germany tries to hide from the rest of the world during its Olympic ceremonies. German officials essentially outlaw the Jews’ ability to survive within Germany.
There was also an ongoing strain of antisemitism in the U.S., we’re told. One of Joe’s teammates learns that his father had to keep their Jewish ancestry a secret for years because of his fear of public prejudice and physical reprisals.
Joe’s childhood is far from easy. His mother dies when he’s just an infant, and he’s shipped around to various family members after his father abandons the family. Then when dad, Harry, returns and remarries, Joe is brought home, but he’s treated as something of a pariah by his new stepmother. Eventually she forces Harry to leave Joe behind as the rest of the family packs up and moves.
Despite his foul treatment, Joe still repeatedly tries to stay in contact with his siblings. He tracks down his family, learning they are living in Seattle, where the University of Washington is based. But when he goes to their door, his stepmother tells him: “Make your own life, Joe. Stay out of ours!” This mistreatment makes Joyce seethingly angry for Joe’s sake. And she asks him why he doesn’t get angry about it, too. “It takes energy to get angry. It eats you up inside,” Joe wisely tells her. “I can’t waste energy like that and get ahead.”
In a way then, Joe eventually finds his family connections with Joyce and with the members of his crew team. Granted, that latter connection takes some time, since Coach Ulbrickson isn’t a warm individual and Joe has a difficult time trusting or relying on others. But eventually they all become the family that he’s never really had.
German politicians and officials are quite duplicitous. And many in the world are unable to see the perception-altering ploy Hitler and others are trying to play out through their grand Olympic games and propaganda push.
Back in the States, some officials are rather duplicitous as well. For instance, after the Washington team wins the right to go to the Olympic event, they’re told by Olympic officials that they’ll have to pay their own way or forfeit their spot (a bit of political tomfoolery designed to send an elite East Coast team in their stead.) But back in Seattle, supporters quickly raise the funds through a massive campaign, collecting small door-to-door donations.
George Pocock becomes an important figure in Joe’s life. This British boatmaker is something of a lowkey rowing guru, respected by the whole Washington team. He guides Joe with words of wisdom and thoughtful questions that shape Joe’s perspective on not just the sport of rowing, but life itself.
Early on, Joe is probably the poorest member of the crew team, scraping up every penny he needs and just barely paying his way at school. As such, he only has a single sweater and set of clothes. Some of the more well-to-do guys call him “Hobo-Joe,” much to his embarrassment. Joyce must work to earn money as well and takes a job as a maid for a local judge. Later, however, she quits after the judge chases her around his dining room table, looking for services she isn’t willing to provide.
There are one or two uses of the words “h—” and “a–.” A teammate references an acronym he used that referred to an obscenity. (But we’re not told what that obscenity is.)
People drink beer and other forms of alcohol, and they smoke cigarettes and cigars. For instance, we hear of downtown “honky tonks” where locals “swilled whisky” and got into brawls. As a young teen struggling to survive, Joe essentially steals bootleg liquor to then secretly sell to his own group of buyers.
Coach Ulbrickson lays down the law and demands that his rowers abstain year-round from drinking or smoking, but some of them break the rules from time to time. (The coach smokes as well.) We hear of another female athlete repeatedly getting drunk at parties and subsequently being thrown off the U.S. team.
Most of the violence here takes place through the agony of the rowing itself. Author Daniel James Brown goes to lengths to describe how grueling and physically painful it is to become a balanced and synchronized team of rowers.
We also hear of the physical misery inflicted by disease in a time when medical care and medicines were scarce. Several people close to Joe die dreadfully from their maladies. A national drought and heat wave also creates horrible conditions that decimate farms and livelihoods across the nation, leaving families devastated.
Joe also works a number of bone-breaking jobs. He grows stronger because of them, but they’re incredibly painful and strenuous. One of his less-than-legal jobs also results in Joe being beaten unconscious by a club to the head.
German Jews are grabbed and abused by Nazi officials (but their plight is not fully described.) Black widow spiders fall out of the rafters onto naked men in the showers.
Joe works one summer on the federal Grand Coulee dam project. We’re told of the nearby encampment that features entertainment for the male workers, including “YooHoo Girls” and pimps who work to separate the workers from their hard-earned cash.
The author also gives us some background on various German officials. And we learn of Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels’ propensity for having sexual affairs outside his marriage. He tries to seduce the Reich’s prominent filmmaker, Leni Riefenstahl, but is turned down.
For all of their attraction to one another, the book implies that Joe and his girlfriend Joyce remain chaste until marriage. (Early on, though, it’s mentioned that Joyce’s religious mom keeps a very “vigilant” eye on her teen daughter.)
Have you ever faced impossible odds, but pushed forward toward a goal anyway? What does that kind of determined effort teach? It’s very difficult to face heartache and pain in your life, but do painful situations make us better in some way? How?
Take a look at Philippians 1:6 and Proverbs 4:25-26. What are these verses telling us?
The Boys in the Boat not only helps communicate the effort it takes to push forward in the face of terrible circumstances, it also condenses some of the history of the 1930’s. What kinds of things can that history teach us about all that’s happening today? What does our history teach us about our choices, our faith, today?
Get free discussion question for books at focusonthefamily.com/magazine/thriving-family-book-discussion-questions.
The Boys in the Boat showcases great endurance and perseverance in the face of adversity. It’s a compelling and immersive story. At the same time the book gives readers a fuller sense of our nation’s suffering in the early1930s—a time of financial hardship, environmental hazards and antisemitic hatred—lending a context to today’s related struggles.
You can request a review of a title you can’t find at [email protected].
Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not necessarily their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book’s review does not constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family.
Review by Bob Hoose
