by Mindi Popovich-Schneider
I am sadly, not much of a nonfiction reader. I say “sadly,” because I’m a bit envious of people like my husband who can self-educate at a shocking rate, simply by reading books on a wide variety of topics. However, there is one nonfiction book in particular that ranks in my all-time favorite books. As the youth say these days, it “lives rent free in my head.” And not, I think, without merit: I really and truly believe that it should be a part of everyone’s homeschool curriculum. That book is The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown.
Brown tells the story of the 1936 Seattle Rowing Team–the team that represented the US at those Olympic Games, the ones held in Germany at the start of WWII. But Brown does not simply tell the story of that team’s victory. By focusing on one particular team member, Joe Rantz, and how he came to be a member of the rowing team, he gives us a model of the American Exceptionalism we are meant to strive towards: hard work, grit in the face of unthinkable trials…and through it all, somehow, compassion.
Today, I am going to present my case for why this beautiful story is a necessary part of an education, especially for young men. Its historical merit is obvious, so I am not going to touch on that. More importantly, anyway, is that I think it is a book that can truly help form the soul. Let me start with a passage that demonstrates so many of these points:
It was when he tried to talk about 'the boat' that his words began to falter and tears welled up in his eyes...Finally, watching Joe struggle for composure over and over, I realized that 'the boat' was something more than just the shell or its crew. To Joe, it encompassed but transcended both–it was something mysterious and almost beyond definition. It was a shared experience–a singular thing that had unfolded in a golden sliver of time long gone, when nine good-hearted young men strove together, pulled together as one, gave everything they had for one another, bound together forever by pride and respect and love. Joe was crying, at least in part, for the loss of that vanished moment but much more, I think, for the sheer beauty of it.
Simply put, this is beautiful writing, and it is consistent throughout the entire book. What an excellent study in how to write well! And the subject matter…oh, the variety of subject matter! Despite knowing the outcome of World War II, I found myself nearly jittery during the passages that outlined Germany’s preparations for the games…and the heightening mistreatment of Jews and other minority groups. Before reading this book, I had never in my life thought deeply about rowing as a sport and had only ever thought a little bit about boatbuilding, and yet I found myself lost in the passages that described each as a loving discipline: an image of doing a thing for the sake of the thing itself.
That brings me to my next point: this book–possibly without the author even realizing it!–offers a vision of Goodness, Truth, and Beauty. For Joe Rantz, being a part of the rowing team starts off as a scholarship opportunity that will allow him to continue going to college. But it becomes a thing that shapes his mind, his body, and his life towards virtue. Toward pouring himself into something else in order to do that thing well.
More specifically, the book–the very art of rowing–gives us a model for Christian life. As Rantz muses in the passage above: “...when nine good-hearted young men strove together, pulled together as one, gave everything they had for one another, bound together forever by pride and respect and love.” If we think of the Church as a boat, then are we not, as brothers and sisters in Christ, called to be like this rowing team, where, we despite our diversity of talents and histories, bend our bodies, minds, and hearts to be as one, laboring together towards the Kingdom of God? Even the coxswain, sitting at the back and urging his teammates on, sometimes with insults!, is part of the life, the rhythm, the soul of the boat. I can think of no better analogy for the Body of Christ.
So, whether your curriculum needs a history book, an example of beautiful writing, a model of patriotism, an impetus to virtue, or a vision of our communal life in Christ, I am not simply recommending The Boys in the Boat–I am begging you to add it to your studies.
