Boys in the Boat

 The book chronicles the story of the University of Washington crew team that won a gold medal at the Berlin Olympic games. The book details their history. The group were primarily working class boys from rural Washington. Most worked manual labor jobs (such as building Grand Coulee dam) in order to pay for school. They were a far cry from the elite rowers that they regularly competed with. Even after qualifying for the olympics, an Ivy league school offered to take their place, since they would have to pay their way.

The book intertwines the history of the Washington Crew team with the events of the world, including the rise of Hitler in Germany and the great depression in the US. The reaction of the Hitler Youth stuck out. These impressionable youth felt it their duty to carry out Nazi message. They were similar to youth in Communist Russia that would glorify communism at the expense of their elders. Today, we may look at things, and say "oh, we are now enlightened progressives. We would never be like the evil fascists." However, the actual ideology is largely irrelevant. I doubt most of the youth even have a good understanding of what the ideology is. Instead, they see "others" as not toeing the party line and punishing them. Today it may be attacking somebody on social media because they have the "wrong" views. (This may even take place in the name of "inclusiveness") Is taking down a website really much different from burning a book?

It is also interesting that Germany had "cleaned things up" for the Olympics. They put on a great facade to hide away the internal warfare going on in the country. They also did things very manually, thus creating a huge number of jobs. They were able to create a great Olympics - they just couldn't win everything.

Another takeaway is how things have changed. The olympic athletes still had to work their way through school. However, they could earn enough money over the summer to pay for school. Rowing was one of the more popular events at the olympics and attracted huge crowds. During the depression people adapted to find ways to earn money and grow food. The government safety net was much smaller. But, government interference and regulation was also much smaller. 

The championship rowers had a mixture of natural abilities and a passion for the sport. Rowing is an interesting sport that requires brute strength, technique and teamwork. There is a great deal of strategy involved to manage the group and competitive psychology as well as individual experience. University of Washington's championship team had their struggles, but were able to overcome them to put on a momentous performance.