The Boys in the Boat by by Daniel James Brown

People have been telling me to read this book forever. And I've been waiting for it to become available at the library for months. But I finally got my hands on it and it was quite an inspirational story. The basic story is about the American crew team that competed in the 1936 Olympics in Hitler's Berlin. The story centers on Joe Rantz, who had an unbelievably difficult childhood/adolesence during the Depression yet managed to rise above it to live a long and happy life with his true love, Joyce.

There is a little too much technical detail on rowing and building boats for my taste. But the basic story about Joe and the other boys in the boat is fascinating. And when you realize all the obstacles they were up against in Berlin, it's even more amazing how well they did.