Finished: The Boys in the Boat (Brown) The awe-inspiring story of the incredible young rowing crew from the University of Washington who, after first battling to a national championship, went on to win the Gold medal at the 1936 Olympics in Hitler's Berlin. An amazing story that focuses on the nine man crew, coach and boat maker, and in particular, on the life of Joe Rantz, a rower who had a childhood of abandonment and poverty. The mostly working-class crew had to work their fingers to the bone just to finance their trips to the east coast to face their rich counterparts at Princeton, Pennsylvania, etc. And, they had their California competitors to the south who had already won national championships and Olympic Gold. With an incredible coxswain, Bobby Moch, at the head of the boat, the crew won resounding victories at the national championship and Olympic trials, only to be thrust into the cleverly constructed Berlin that Hitler chose to show the world, when all the while he had already began committing the human atrocities that the world would soon be privy to. And, even though having the best time during the pre-race heats at the Olympics, the U.S. team was put in the outside, extremely choppy, and absolute worst lane. No amount of arguing by the coach would change the situation. The Germans, of course, had lane number one. It was an uphill battle for the young Washington crew. If I hadn't already known the outcome of the contest, I'm not sure I could have kept reading to find out if they won! Whew! The book has inspired me to look up some of the old crew footage from the 1936 Olympics and it's rather neat to see the faces from the still pictures in the book come to life! I'm also so happy that Joe ended up meeting the love of his life, Joyce, who, along with their five children, finally gave him the family he'd been missing since being deserted at such a young age. In all, a very inspiring book! I think I can probably walk a 5k if these guys can row like that! :-)