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These young upstarts from Annapolis, not blue bloods from the great families of Harvard and Yale, but ordinary boys from across America, from Pasadena to Baltimore, groomed by a crusty old New England Salt named Richard Glendon, who himself just the ordinary son of a fisherman, had dared to climb the sacred slopes of Mount Olympus to defeat its rowing god. The British had been rowing competitively since 1715, and the Americans defeated their composite Leander crew - considered the best crew Britain ever boated, meaning the best crew the world had seen in two hundred years - and they did it in world record time in the Olympic Games.

When the U.S. Navel Academy's eight oared shell won the Olympic gold medal at Antwerp, Belgium, in 1920, rowing on two continents changed forever. Social prejudices were sliced through, class lines faltered, and the British were left to retreat-flattened back to the fluid surface like the tracings of blade puddles disappearing on still water. ~Saint Sing writes.

Using Glendon's technique, U.S. men won Olympic gold for 40 straight years. The longest streak in Olympic history. A very enjoyable read which encompasses both sport and history. [St. Martin's Press, 2008].