Title: The Boys in the Boat
Author: Daniel James Brown
Page Count: 404 pages
Genre: Nonfiction, Sports
Tone: Impassioned, Inspiring
Summary:
Out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times – the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant.
SPOILER WARNING:
These book discussion questions are highly detailed and will ruin plot points if you have not read the book.
The Library is happy to share these original questions for your use. If reproducing, please credit with the following statement: 2017 Mount Prospect Public Library. All rights reserved. Used with Permission.
1. What made you want to read this book? Would you have felt compelled to read it outside of book club?
2. Do you think that reading this during the Olympics would make a difference to you?
3. What are the differences, if any, as to how the Olympics were regarded in the 1930s to how they are regarded now?
4. What are your thoughts on Avery Brundage and his role on the Olympic committee?
5. Bobby Moch was Jewish. Knowing what he knew about Germany, are you surprised he went? Would you have gone? Why did his father not tell him sooner?
6. Should there have been a boycott against the Olympics?
7. Leni Riefenstiahl is probably the most famous female director ever; what did you think of her?
8. Let’s talk about Joe’s family life. What are your thoughts? Specifically Thula and Harry ?
9. Which relationship do you believe was ultimately the most pivotal for Joe?
10. Ulbrickson kept putting different boys in different boats, what do you think made these boys fit together?
11. What do you think was the turning point for Joe to become a unit with the rest of the boys in the boat?
12. Why do you think the boys were so unbeatable?
13. How much of a pivotal character was Pocock? Could they have won without him?
14. What did you think of George Pocock’s issues with the California coach Ky Ebright?
15. What did you think about the journey over to Germany on the cruise ship? Did anything interest you?
16. What did you think about the way the Germans handled the race?
OTHER RESOURCES:
- Lit Lovers’ Reading Group Guide
- Seattle Times Q&A
- (Video) Daniel James Brown on The Boys in the Boat
- “Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936” article by United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- The Rowing Team That Stunned the World
READALIKES:
The Three-Year Swim Club
by Julie Checkoway
Salt Sweat Tears
by Adam Rackley
Nazi Games
by David Clay Large
