My husband, who rowed, highly recommended this book, but it is certainly for more than just those with a first-hand familiarity with crew. There are trite references that one could make as to the meaning of the boat–but simply put, this is a beautifully written history of the Depression, the Dust Bowl, of America in the time of Nazi Germany, and a group of ordinary men who together were extraordinary. As Timothy Egan notes in his review, “The Boys in the Boat is about who we used to be. And who we still could be.”