Rating: 
Summary: Good, Clean Fun
Review: I learned a lot from this book and enjoyed every page. Thanks, Mr. Boyne for showing us who paved the way and how tough it was.
Rating:
Summary: Much more than 'The Amateurs for Women'
Review: I picked this book up expecting a vaguely enjoyable read but was quickly drawn into what is a hugely compelling story about women breaking through the prejudicial boundaries around their sport to record a historical result against the female(?) crews of Russia and Eastern Europe. Dan Boyne cleverly weaves the stories of the very different characters that made up the crew throughout the book skillfully drawing them together at the end. His writing is first rate and as someone who has lived in both the UK and Boston, US - the main locales for this book - I found it well researched and credible Rower or non-rower, male or female this is a terrific read
Rating:
Summary: The Tabula Rasa of US Women's Rowing
Review: If Odysseus could have read Daniel J.Boyne's book `The Red Rose Crew" he would have had no reason to be tied to the mast to cox his ear-waxed crew through the Sirenum Scopuli unscathed. The Sirens would have gladly faced their un-timely end with the knowledge that women's rowing had a champion who took the time and effort to chronical a arduous voyage that will be remembered as the break though of woman's competitive rowing in the United States. In a time when story telling has been all but lost as a media to impart history or knowledge, a well-credentialed Daniel Boyne has wove a rich tapestry of facts, protocol, commentary, technical knowledge and colorful antidotes into a narrative that are easily remembered and re-called. Every sport has its legends; Babe Ruth, Billie Jean King, Pele', the utterance of each name conjures a vivid image of the particular athlete's prowess and character. US women's rowing has Ernestine Bayer, Carie Graves, Gail Pierson, and Harry Parker just to mention a few of the people Daniel J.Boyne has profiled as the "Who's Who" of US women's rowing. One of the many pearls of rowing information the author relates is how a good crew has the characteristics of a good baseball team. Rowers spend many hours debating the age-old rower's question of whether power, or technique is more important or why coaches' conduct seat races. Mr. Boyne's account of how the `The Red Rose Crew" was formulated is a wealth of information for any rower or coach looking for the literal and figurative gut wrenching answers. Rowers and coaches who have, or will have to weather the trials and travail of choosing and rowing into the seats of a boat will relate to the myriad of variables and anguish and elation. US Rowing is fortunate that Daniel J.Boyne has taken the time and energy to share his knowledge and insight of where US Women's rowing has been and the inevitable heights that it destined to rise.John Wall, Ancient Mariner Berkshire County, USA 6/10/01
Rating:
Summary: The Tabula Rasa of US Women's Rowing
Review: If Odysseus could have read Daniel J.Boyne's book 'The Red Rose Crew" he would have had no reason to be tied to the mast to cox his ear-waxed crew through the Sirenum Scopuli unscathed. The Sirens would have gladly faced their un-timely end with the knowledge that women's rowing had a champion who took the time and effort to chronical a arduous voyage that will be remembered as the break though of woman's competitive rowing in the United States. In a time when story telling has been all but lost as a media to impart history or knowledge, a well-credentialed Daniel Boyne has wove a rich tapestry of facts, protocol, commentary, technical knowledge and colorful antidotes into a narrative that are easily remembered and re-called. Every sport has its legends; Babe Ruth, Billie Jean King, Pele', the utterance of each name conjures a vivid image of the particular athlete's prowess and character. US women's rowing has Ernestine Bayer, Carie Graves, Gail Pierson, and Harry Parker just to mention a few of the people Daniel J.Boyne has profiled as the "Who's Who" of US women's rowing. One of the many pearls of rowing information the author relates is how a good crew has the characteristics of a good baseball team. Rowers spend many hours debating the age-old rower's question of whether power, or technique is more important or why coaches' conduct seat races. Mr. Boyne's account of how the 'The Red Rose Crew" was formulated is a wealth of information for any rower or coach looking for the literal and figurative gut wrenching answers. Rowers and coaches who have, or will have to weather the trials and travail of choosing and rowing into the seats of a boat will relate to the myriad of variables and anguish and elation. US Rowing is fortunate that Daniel J.Boyne has taken the time and energy to share his knowledge and insight of where US Women's rowing has been and the inevitable heights that it destined to rise. John Wall, Ancient Mariner Berkshire County, USA 6/10/01
Rating: 
Summary: Good -- could be better
Review: Make no mistake: this is a good book. The story of the first women's national team rowing camp is worth reading, especially in a time when rowing is playing larger role in women's sports. If you're a rower, or if you're interested in the history of women's sports, you'll find something here. I am both. However, I do not think this book is deftly written. You can find better writing about rowing in the essays on various rowing web pages. If you like David Halberstam's writing style, you'll like this book. At times, the structure and Boyne's writing is so similar to Halberstam's in "The Amateurs" that I wondered if Boyne was trying to parody him. I do not like Halberstam's writing. I find it overwrought, full of hyperbole and excessive, misplaced detail. Boyne's is no different. He is clearly trying to write a book about Great Women (and Men) Doing Great Things in the Face of Adversity. Perhaps this is the essence of competition. But for me, at least, rowing is both more nuanced and more simple than that. Until recently, there have been very few non-technical books about rowing. A reader could tell which were written by competitive rowers and which weren't. Rowers knew what they were writing about. Boyne has been coaching and rowing for years, and he recently wrote a very good book on rowing technique that managed to side-step contentious issues of rowing style. I was surprised, therefore, to find him saying things that weren't wrong, but weren't quite accurate, either. For example, he insists on referring to sculling boats as "sculls". This is common, but strictly speaking is not correct. "Sculls" are the oars for these boats, not the boats themselves. The boat is a "shell". It would be like referring to a car as "wheels" (which people do), and then insisting on saying "I got into my wheels to drive to the store". Typically, rowers refer to sculling boats by the number of people they hold. A "single" holds one rower, "double" two, etc. (In a deliciously literary inaccuracy, eight-person sculling boats are sometimes called "octopedes" rather than "octuples".) Rowers call a four-person sculling boat a "quad", which I have always understood to mean "quadruple", as in "quadruple sculling boat" or "quadruple shell". Boyne refers to these as "quadrasculls", a term I have never heard. These examples are minor, but if you're going to use jargon, use the right jargon. His inaccuracies aren't limited to row-speak. In what appears to be an effort to sound learned, he occasionally subtly misuses terms. (Note to aspiring authors: "nonplussed" does not mean "unimpressed".) While many good authors do this for literary effect, my impression is that Boyne is trying too hard to speechify. This tendency lends to the overall amateurish (in both senses) and heavy-handedness of the book. Again, this is a great story, and in the ever-churning controversy over Title IX, one that is still germane. I recommend the book. But I was disappointed in the telling of the story.
Rating:
Summary: Good -- could be better
Review: Make no mistake: this is a good book. The story of the first women's national team rowing camp is worth reading, especially in a time when rowing is playing larger role in women's sports. If you're a rower, or if you're interested in the history of women's sports, you'll find something here. I am both. However, I do not think this book is deftly written. You can find better writing about rowing in the essays on various rowing web pages. If you like David Halberstam's writing style, you'll like this book. At times, the structure and Boyne's writing is so similar to Halberstam's in "The Amateurs" that I wondered if Boyne was trying to parody him. I do not like Halberstam's writing. I find it overwrought, full of hyperbole and excessive, misplaced detail. Boyne's is no different. He is clearly trying to write a book about Great Women (and Men) Doing Great Things in the Face of Adversity. Perhaps this is the essence of competition. But for me, at least, rowing is both more nuanced and more simple than that. Until recently, there have been very few non-technical books about rowing. A reader could tell which were written by competitive rowers and which weren't. Rowers knew what they were writing about. Boyne has been coaching and rowing for years, and he recently wrote a very good book on rowing technique that managed to side-step contentious issues of rowing style. I was surprised, therefore, to find him saying things that weren't wrong, but weren't quite accurate, either. For example, he insists on referring to sculling boats as "sculls". This is common, but strictly speaking is not correct. "Sculls" are the oars for these boats, not the boats themselves. The boat is a "shell". It would be like referring to a car as "wheels" (which people do), and then insisting on saying "I got into my wheels to drive to the store". Typically, rowers refer to sculling boats by the number of people they hold. A "single" holds one rower, "double" two, etc. (In a deliciously literary inaccuracy, eight-person sculling boats are sometimes called "octopedes" rather than "octuples".) Rowers call a four-person sculling boat a "quad", which I have always understood to mean "quadruple", as in "quadruple sculling boat" or "quadruple shell". Boyne refers to these as "quadrasculls", a term I have never heard. These examples are minor, but if you're going to use jargon, use the right jargon. His inaccuracies aren't limited to row-speak. In what appears to be an effort to sound learned, he occasionally subtly misuses terms. (Note to aspiring authors: "nonplussed" does not mean "unimpressed".) While many good authors do this for literary effect, my impression is that Boyne is trying too hard to speechify. This tendency lends to the overall amateurish (in both senses) and heavy-handedness of the book. Again, this is a great story, and in the ever-churning controversy over Title IX, one that is still germane. I recommend the book. But I was disappointed in the telling of the story.
Rating:
Summary: When Harry met...the Red Rose Crew
Review: Team rowing is an activity that tests individual limits in a group setting like no other sport. Unfortunately for the public vision of rowing, the same need for uniformity of action that drives a championship boat, and the relative linearity of the contest, combine to preclude the heroics of the team rower from being displayed, understood or enjoyed in as entertaining a manner as the feats of athletes in other sports. As a result, rowing, the first modern sport and the best known team sport in America in the midst of the 19th century, is today largely marginalized in the public eye, and those who move the long boats are rarely seen on the great stage of public sport. Dan Boyne has rendered a tremendous service to rowing and to sport history by taking a subject that attracts so little attention on today's popular entertainment menu, and writing an enthralling tale of achievement that brings honor to the author and his subject. The eight is the capital boat of the sport, and the challenge for Harry Parker's nascent U.S. women's team was daunting - to compete against European squads with greater depth, experience, organization and support, while at the same time creating its own place within an often hostile and unconvinced US rowing community. Boyne moves deftly betwen the stories of the parts and the whole, bringing focus to selected individuals and putting others into context to complete the picture. He chronicles the progress of the team as pages fall inexorably from the season's calendar, building his pace and pressure with each decision that establishes the crew's makeup. At the end, the story surges down the course to its dramatic and satisfying finish, and Dan Boyne has produced a tremendous saga well told, and an invaluable contribution to the too small corpus of rowing history. More, please!
Rating:
Summary: When Harry met...the Red Rose Crew
Review: Team rowing is an activity that tests individual limits in a group setting like no other sport. Unfortunately for the public vision of rowing, the same need for uniformity of action that drives a championship boat, and the relative linearity of the contest, combine to preclude the heroics of the team rower from being displayed, understood or enjoyed in as entertaining a manner as the feats of athletes in other sports. As a result, rowing, the first modern sport and the best known team sport in America in the midst of the 19th century, is today largely marginalized in the public eye, and those who move the long boats are rarely seen on the great stage of public sport. Dan Boyne has rendered a tremendous service to rowing and to sport history by taking a subject that attracts so little attention on today's popular entertainment menu, and writing an enthralling tale of achievement that brings honor to the author and his subject. The eight is the capital boat of the sport, and the challenge for Harry Parker's nascent U.S. women's team was daunting - to compete against European squads with greater depth, experience, organization and support, while at the same time creating its own place within an often hostile and unconvinced US rowing community. Boyne moves deftly betwen the stories of the parts and the whole, bringing focus to selected individuals and putting others into context to complete the picture. He chronicles the progress of the team as pages fall inexorably from the season's calendar, building his pace and pressure with each decision that establishes the crew's makeup. At the end, the story surges down the course to its dramatic and satisfying finish, and Dan Boyne has produced a tremendous saga well told, and an invaluable contribution to the too small corpus of rowing history. More, please!
Rating:
Summary: A great book for sports fans!
Review: The Red Rose Crew is an excellent, informative, and engaging book for fans of any sport. Though I have never picked up an oar, I greatly enjoyed Boyne's character development and storytelling skills. In an era in which women athletes must often look pretty to court fan support, Boyne focuses on the courage, strength and poise of these pioneers without romanticizing away their flaws. The book is a great read and the plot transcends the sport of rowing. It is an essential read for female athletes in their teens and 20's who are often not aware of the doors that pioneering women athletes had to break down.
Rating:
Summary: The Red Rose Crew
Review: This book was a wonderful read--I finished it in two nights. As a woman who was in college in the late '70s, I identified a lot with the women of the Red Rose Crew, though back then I didn't get involved much in athletics, partly because title 9 was still very new and relatively unimplemented. This book is a great way to find out just how much the sport of rowing has changed over the last several decades. It is about doing the right thing for the right reasons, and getting things right in return. Quietly, with class and style, we find out about bad behavior by certain neanderthal types, but the author never loses sight of the good deeds of sharing and respect that combined to make the Red Rose Crew's success possible. I expect that this positive attitude is part of what today makes rowing a stronger sport than it ever was, fully accessible to all who wish to participate (as long as they live near some water, that is!!)
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