Earlier today I saw a news article announcing that PBS’s American Experience will premiere a one-hour documentary, The Boys of ’36, inspired by Daniel James Brown’s history The Boys in the Boat on August 2 at 9 ET. Before the Olympics were professional games, before performance enhancing drugs and huge endorsement deals, the Olympics often involved both politics and pride. This show should be “must see TV” so mark it on your calendar and set the DVR. For more information click here.
IN A NUTSHELL
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, (Viking, 2013)- In 40 words or less: Traces the University of Washington rowers who captured 1936 Olympic gold despite personal and financial hardships, and East Coast bias. Plan to be schooled in team-building, boat-building, the history of the Depression and the rise of Nazi Germany.
- Genre: History
- Locale: US (primarily Washington) and Germany
- Time: 1930s
- Read this! The narrative is gripping, the language is lyrical and the individual stories grab you. You will be sorry if you don’t.
The glory of the Olympics has been tarnished in recent years, but the stories of individual and team athletic achievements remain compelling. The U.S. hero of the 1936 Olympics was Jesse Owens. The target of prejudice and singled out beforehand as a target, he beat the best track stars the Third Reich had to offer.
Virtually lost in history (except in Washington), was the extraordinary saga of the University of Washington’s 8 man rowing team. In the middle of the Depression, these sons of loggers and farmers, many of whom had never rowed before, joined the team as a means of pursuing their education.
Since the publication of Daniel James Brown’s book three years ago, the attention on the story of these rowers and the difficulty of their achievement at that time in American history has come to widespread public attention. Until that time, rowing was dominated by the East Coast Ivy League teams, generally made up of the well-to-do. The West Coast, and more particularly, Washington, was deemed a backwater, of little concern to the Eastern Establishment in more than just sports. Brown lays out the extreme difficulty of life during the Depression in the Pacific Northwest.
In following their path to Berlin, which included a train ride through the Dust Bowl, the reader is caught up in multiple elements of U.S. history of that period. As vital to the story is Germany’s plan to use the Olympics to further its political ends. The extensive motion picture propaganda campaign developed for the Olympics was the first of its kind. It is all laid out in the book.
Brown’s presentation will capture even the most reluctant reader of nonfiction. I can’t imagine what it is, but some of the very best narrative nonfiction writing of the last decade has come from the Seattle area, courtesy of Daniel James Brown and Erik Larson (In the Garden of Beasts and Dead Wake). And for those who’d like to share this incredible story with a younger or reluctant reader, this is an adapted version with abridged language and more manageable length (250 pages versus 400).
Many of you have likely read The Boys in the Boat and shared it with friends, family, and other readers. With the Olympics beginning in a just a few weeks, this is the perfect time to bring this great story to those who may have missed it.
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I read the book and yesterday saw the Documentary on PBS. While I enjoyed the documentary it in no way captures the experiences depicted in the book. This Epic deserves a full length motion picture which in turn can be used to teach history in all schools. Bravo to MR Brown.
I agree completely. Hopefully the show will give some the impetus to learn more.
The movie has been cast! Just read that “Harry Potter” Daniel Radcliffe will be Coxswain,Bob Moch. Some of the others are actors and members of crew teams. One is Bradley Cooper who rows at Georgetown.