Get a historical look at 'The Boys in the Boat' April 7

The St. Charles Public Library will present "The Boys in the Boat: A Historical Perspective" at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 7, in the Carnegie Community Room, 1 S. Sixth Ave.

Professor Gary Midkiff will take a multilayered look at the sport of rowing and the fascinating "Boys in the Boat," an eight-oar team from the University of Washington who won the 1936 Olympic gold medal.

Rowing combines the Zen of becoming one with your environment; the physical exertion of processing as much oxygen as a thoroughbred racehorse on the home stretch; and the need to perfectly coordinate eight rowers at 36 strokes per minute. Then mix with the class system inequality of rich Ivy League kids vs. poor, blue collar students under the shadow of Nazi Germany's 1936 Olympics, and you have a story that Hollywood could not invent.

Midkiff is a college professor who teaches MBA and undergraduate courses at 10 different colleges and universities in the area. He specializes in the U.S. Civil War, the American presidency and our foreign wars, and became interested in the Civil War while stationed at the Pentagon during the Vietnam War era.

This program is part of the library's monthlong One Book, One Community event, focusing on 2013 nonfiction book "The Boys in the Boat" by Dan James Brown. Registration is required. Sign up at the Reference Desk, by calling (630) 584-0076, ext. 1, or online at www.stcharleslibrary.org.