A review by emileereadsbooks
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown

informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

This book has been on my TBR for years and I'm so glad the my Olympic obsession made me pick it up during the Paris games. 

Narrated by the late and beloved Edward Herrmann (Richard Gilmore for any Gilmore Girls fans), this audiobook took me on a journey from America during the depression to Nazi Germany, and had me rooting for a group of rag tag boys who showed the world the epitome of the American dream. 

Rarely does a nonfiction book have so much heart that you feel like the characters are as fleshed out as those in a novel. Impeccably researched, this book includes information gleaned from journals and other personal accounts. The level of detail was really stunning, but did not bog down the storytelling. And we don't just get the story of these boys. We get excellent context of America and Germany at this time and how Germany used it's propaganda machine to fuel it's appearance in this Olympics.

Bonus trivia I learned: bringing the Olympic flame from Greece to the Olympic Games started in 1936 thanks to Nazi Germany. They were determined to put on a show.