Book Review: The Boys in the Boat by Henry Castel

The Olympic games in Paris 2024 just finished last week but for me, this is not done yet. The party is still going on. This week I’m going to discuss a great book, a great team, and a great moment. As usual, this is a true story. You know that I love to deal with that. The author is Daniel James Brown. The book title is “The Boys in the Boat.” It retraces the incredible journey of the US rowing team in Germany before the war burst. Let’s embark on the boat and start rowing.

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On this day, in front of the boathouse, he is only one of the 175 novice freshmen who have come to register to try their luck at the "eight" of their class. In this America, plunged since Black Thursday in 1929 into a terrible economic crisis, Joe Rantz played by Callum Turner, is poorly dressed and for good reason knows that being selected for the team, a helmsman, eight rowers, would allow him to survive and help cover the costs of his school year.

At the rate of three hours each afternoon, in this icy autumn, the selection and the training begins. "Rowing is a sport of extreme beauty that is accessed at the cost of great suffering, an absurd and omnipresent pain that must be ignored in order to continue rowing properly, over and over again." But Joe and his only friend Roger Morriss played by Sam Strike, as quiet as he is, cross the successive thresholds and earn their place in the crew that will win the first events.

1934-1935. From level to level, the team continued to progress. The time has come to confront their great rival, the University of California. This is taking place at the national regattas of the University Rowing League in Poughkeepsie in front of tens of thousands of spectators along the banks of the Hudson. It includes the "Sophomores" (second years) chosen by head coach Al Ulbrickson played by Joel Edgerton.

1936. This was the crucial year. Reigniting the pride of Seattle, the crew, made up mainly of the children of lumberjacks, ranchers, and fishermen, won the selection for the Olympic Games by a hard fight, dominating not only the University of California but "those on the East Coast", Pennsylvania, Princeton, the New York Athletic Club, not to mention the Naval Academy. After many twists and turns, on July 14th, along with the other 325 members of the American delegation, they were aboard the SS Manhattan, passing in front of the Statue of Liberty and entering the Atlantic.

Their destination: K?penick, the Olympic water sports village, 25 km southwest of Berlin, near the Grünau Basin on the Langer See. On August 12th, in the eliminations, they beat the formidable British, thus going directly to the final. On August 14th, this race will be the most heartbreaking. Everything is stacked against the Washington Boys: the surprising allocation of line 6, the most unfavorable in the rain and gusts of wind, the singular location of the starter which suddenly appears to give a start that significantly favors Germany and Italy on lines 1 and 2, which are the best sheltered. At 1000 meters, halfway through, they were still sixth and last, a good 5 seconds behind, third in the 1500 meters. Having found their swing that is the magical moment of absolute cohesion where rowing is an art and pure poetry of movement. Having increased their pace to the rhythm never before reached by 44 strokes per minute, they crossed the final line with the tiny lead of 6/10 of a second over the Italians, one second over the Germans. Brutally the "Deutschland! Deutschland! Deutschland!"?were silent. Hitler, followed by Goebbels, and Goering, got up, turned their backs, and disappeared.

When they retired after a final success at Poughkeepsie in June 1937, the clumsy beginners had each rowed about 7000 kilometers in 470,000 strokes. Celebrating their Olympic victory every ten years, from 1946 to 1986, they remained more than fraternally close to each other. After losing Joyce in September 2002, Joe passed away peacefully at the home of his daughter Judy on September 10th, 2007. Today, there is only one winner of the 1936 race, the Husky Clipper, attached to the ceiling of the University's spacious dining hall. Every autumn, the coach of the Freshmore boys and girls who have come to register to try their luck, turns to this boat, all heads are looking at the ceiling. And then he tells them the story.

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The book is 100% approved. You need to read it. This is a great adventure. This authentic story of young boys who went against their destiny is also a fantastic evocation of the era—between the still wild American West and a Berlin reshaped by Nazi propaganda. You’ll find attitudes like courage, perseverance, hard work, surpassing oneself, and the strength of fraternity against the barbarity of the times. Skills you can utilize when you’re running and leading your organization to achieve great things.

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Engineer success, encourage excellence, and upsurge leadership by Henry Castel? ? ? ?

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