The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics is a non-fiction book written by Daniel James Brown and published on June 4, 2013.

[2] In an interview with Joseph Sutton-Holcomb from The Seattle Times, Brown emphasized that the reason he spent so much time on the build-up to the race was because he thought “it's much more meaningful if you know the nine guys involved on some kind of personal level, and if you knew what the German boys wearing swastikas on their chests represented, that they weren't just another bunch of kids in a boat.”[2] The Boys in the Boat is about the University of Washington eight-oared rowing crew that represented the United States in rowing at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's eight in Berlin, and narrowly beat out Italy and Germany to win the gold medal.

Along with the chronicle of their victories and defeats in domestic competition, the reader learns the importance of the synchronization of the eight rowers as they respond to the commands of the coxswain and his communications with the stroke, consistent pacing, and sprint to the finish.

Along the way, the book also describes how the Nazis successfully covered up the evidence of their harsh and inhumane treatment of the Jews and other minorities so as to win worldwide applause for the Games, duping the United States Olympic Committee, among others.

"[4] Laurence Raw, from The Journal of American Culture, addressed this book as being researched beautifully and highlights the woes and triumphs experienced during the Great Depression.

"[7] The News Journal includes a positive review from John Schoonver, a coxswain at St. Andrews School in 1959, who claimed that "It [the book] shows a remarkable story about the perseverance of young rowers.”[8] In July 2014, The Delhi Press addressed that “One of the protagonists is Joe Rantz, a poor boy, whose determination to overcome odds makes him an ideal hero.

[15] In February 2022, it was announced that Joel Edgerton, Jack Mulhern, Sam Strike, Luke Slattery, Tom Varey, Thomas Elms, Wil Coban, Bruce Herbelin-Earle, and Hadley Robinson were cast.