THE BOYS IN THE BOAT by Daniel James Brown

I finished this book in a little less than a week - a super compelling nonfiction book about nine boys from Seattle who manage to win the Olympic Gold Medal in 1936, beating a team of Nazi Germans at the onset of the holocaust and World War II.

If you know me, you know I am a sucker for historical novels, a HUGE sucker for character driven stories, and and even BIGGER sucker for World War II books. However, I have never been known to read a sports-related story, and have only recently started to dive in to purely non fiction narratives. This book was all of these things, and more. The characters are incredibly endearing, and the fact that they are all entirely true and well researched makes you absolutely fall in love with their stories. Although it was harder for me to be completely gripped by the narrative, I blame that on the fact that there were no elements of fiction and the author relied on primary and secondary sources to substantiate this book. Regardless, I was swept up by the boys and their heart, determination, and ambition. Plus, they are all from towns around Seattle which is where I grew up, so it was fun to hear about the ways in which my state has changed in the last century.

What nonfiction books have been your favorite? Or can you absolutely not stand them? I was a history major so nonfiction is right up my alley!