Hear Daniel James Brown read from "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics," the inspiring story of the 1936 University of Washington crew team. The event takes place Saturday, July 26, 2014, 2 to 3:15 p.m. at the Ballard public Library.

A New York Times bestseller, "The Boys in the Boat" is the dramatic and poignant story behind one man's quest -- and the triumph of his team, the University of Washington rowing crew -- that stunned the world in 1936.

The team, made up of sons of loggers, farmers and shipyard workers, faced elite rivals first from eastern U.S. and British universities and finally from Adolf Hitler's German crew rowing in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games.

Drawing on the boys' own diaries and journals, their photos and memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, "The Boys in the Boat" is a portrait of an era, a celebration of a historic achievement and the chronicle of one extraordinary young man's personal quest.

"The Boys in the Boat" won the 2014 Indies Choice Book Award for Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year and has been on bestseller lists across the country.

Brown is the author of two previous nonfiction books: "Under A Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894" and "The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of A Donner Party Bride." Brown has taught writing at San Jose State University and Stanford. He lives near Seattle.