The Boys in the Boat

Brown grew up on the West Coast, in the San Francisco Bay Area, and currently resides with his family outside of Seattle, Washington. He has a professional background in technical writing and editing in addition to teaching writing at two universities in California. Brown’s personal interest in American history has led to a writing career of critically acclaimed, narrative nonfiction books, such as the award-winning The Boys in the Boat. Brown’s mission as a writer is to “[bring] compelling historical events to life as vividly and accurately as [he] can” (“About.” Daniel James Brown, 2022).

Joe is a member of the US Olympics rowing team and the University of Washington rowing team; he is also the central figure of The Boys in the Boat. Joe endured an extremely difficult childhood: His mother died when he was four years old, his stepmother resented and abused him, and his father abandoned him when he was 10 years old.

Because of these experiences, Joe is both intensely independent and wary of forming relationships with others. Though he quickly falls in love with Joyce, his childhood sweetheart, he struggles to befriend any of his teammates and fails to grasp the importance of true teamwork and trust.