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1-Page Summary of The Boys In the Boat

Overall Summary

The Boys in the Boat is a book that tells the story of nine American rowers who won an Olympic gold medal in 1936. The book became a best-seller and has been adapted into a documentary titled The Boys of ’36.

The novel follows Joe Rantz’s journey to the Olympics, which takes place during the Great Depression and Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. The book explores themes of teamwork, family, and economic class through Joe Rantz as a character. It begins in 1933 when Joe attends University of Washington and tries out for the rowing team. He hopes that being on the team will help him stay in school so he can prove his worth at Washington. His coach also wants to win gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics because it could be his last chance before retirement. Meanwhile, Germany is preparing for its Olympic bid too; they plan on using it as a PR opportunity to show off their true power, making it harder for other countries to challenge them once they begin invading other nations.

Joe is a novice rower in his freshman year. Despite the freezing weather, he perseveres and makes it to the varsity team. They win against their rivals from UC Berkeley at their first race. Ulbrickson recognizes that Joe has talent, so he moves him to the varsity team for the Poughkeepsie Regatta in New York. The sophomores are moved back to junior boats because of this change, but they struggle with this new position and Ulbrickson changes his mind about moving them again after some time passes by without any success for either boat. Meanwhile, Joe struggles with personal problems as well as Joyce’s family doesn’t accept him because of some past issues with his own family members

The varsity boat is losing a lot of races. Joe sets aside his hard exterior and connects with his teammates by working together towards the common goal of winning. Joe finds himself in the varsity boat again, as they head to Poughkeepsie and Princeton for Olympic trials. They win both, so they go to Berlin to represent America in the Olympics. In Germany, they subtly take stands against Hitler and the Nazi party while exploring Berlin.

The American team is in a bad position on race day, due to poor weather conditions and lane placement. In addition, one of the rowers has been ill for several days prior to the race. Despite these obstacles, they are still able to come from behind and win their heat against Germany by a slim margin.

After graduating, Joe gets married to Joyce and has a family. He and his teammates get together for reunions until they all pass away. Their story is still told at the University of Washington to new rowers.

Prologue

Daniel James Brown visits an elderly man named Joe Rantz. He knows two things about Joe: he “hand-split the rails and cut the posts” of his own home, and he, along with nine other rowers, won the 1936 Olympic gold medal in rowing. Daniel talks to him about that famous event. Joe urges Daniel not to write a book about himself but rather focus on all ten rowers who were part of that team.

Chapter 1

It is 1933, and the Great Depression has been going on for three years. It is a sunny day at the University of Washington in Seattle, and students are still talking about how unlikely it was that the New York Giants beat the Washington Senators in last year’s World Series. Joe Rantz enters a building where rowing boats are kept, hoping to join the team as a freshman. He’s nervous because he knows he might not belong there at all. Still, joining will help him get through university so he can become successful later on. He meets coach Tom Bolles as well as head coach Al Ulbrickson—the boss. As Ulbrickson looks over his new recruits, he hopes that some of them will lead him to his dream: winning gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.