They undergo a ritual of purgation with ultimate glory for only a few. The tragedy of veterans who fall by the wayside and the plight of outsiders who shoulder their way into rowing's closed world is quite moving. This epic of dedication reaches its climax in the 1984 Olympics. Their ambition is to become part of a pantheon of virtually unknown "greats." Their coaches are aloof men their comrades fierce opponents. Power and grace for their own sake motivate these men. They are warriors, not merely athletes Zen monks on a quest for perfection. The rowers live in a universe dominated by the puritan ethic and circumscribed by the Ivy League, with some interesting exceptions. If you know nothing about the art of single sculls or rowing stroke, Halberstam will pique your curiosity. In these days of disposable celebrities, such young men are throwbacks to a purer time and are made of sterner stuff than our commercialized dolls of play. Their athletic odyssey is part talent, part spirit, part theater. Halberstam takes a small group of rowers and gives an in-depth picture of the Herculean effort necessary to win in a sport of which few know or care. In this age of the million-dollar amateur, lucrative endorsements, media adulation and huckstering, there is, believe it or not, such a thing as a real amateur.
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