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Men of Kent: Ten Boys, a Fast Boat, and the Coach Who Made Them Champions

Rick Rinehart

3.68 · Rating details · 28 ratings · 2 reviews

Men of Kent is, first and foremost, an archetypical sports tale--a story of the improbable happening to the unlikely, unfolding against the backdrop of a turbulent era. Both an homage and a unique inside look at the fast-growing sport of rowing, it embraces the sport's history, traditions, and culture as it tells the story of ten ordinary boys and their coach from Kent, Co ...more

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ebook, 232 pages

Published September 14th 2010 by Lyons Press

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Dec 11, 2010 Matthew rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Seeing as how I attended a prep school and rowed there and later on the Charles River, I thought this book would make some connection with me. It didn't. It is a rowing book last, an irritating history of Kent first, and a weird biography of sorts second. I would recommend this book only to people who rowed at Kent in the 1970s - a pretty small group of people. The author makes many claims (most about how awesome Kent is) and plugs its originality as a school; sadly, these ideas are neither orig Seeing as how I attended a prep school and rowed there and later on the Charles River, I thought this book would make some connection with me. It didn't. It is a rowing book last, an irritating history of Kent first, and a weird biography of sorts second. I would recommend this book only to people who rowed at Kent in the 1970s - a pretty small group of people. The author makes many claims (most about how awesome Kent is) and plugs its originality as a school; sadly, these ideas are neither original nor unique to Kent (at all). Seeing as how it was actually one of the last New England prep schools to get going not even 100 years ago, it took many ideas from other schools, not least the 'vaunted' 'work/study' concept which other prep school had practically been founded on (namely, Mount Hermon, my alma mater, which the author spends two pages trashing. At 65+ years old, I don't know who cares about old teenage rivalries. For those who care who are reading this: Mt. Hermon, which couldn't care less about rowing and focuses on its nationally successful basketball, ice hockey and water polo teams (among others), lost to Kent by a handful of seconds my year at NEIRAs and beat them, in the author's words, 'easily' the next. All that must have been embarassing to a school that spends millions on boathouses vs a school that rows out of a glorified shack with old equipment).

All of this is a shame, for what his rowing team accomplished (he sat bow, last guy in the boat) was and is truly impressive - an undefeated regular season in the US, a victory at the Prep School Championships (no small feat), defeating several experienced college crews, winning the highschool national championships (very impressive), and then going on to the Henley Royal Regatta to win the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup (truly remarkable). It may be the best performance by a high school crew ever. But his rowing writing, which relies heavily on previous literature to describe the sport, never goes anywhere. It never gets descriptive about what any of these races meant or what it felt like to row them - each race is nothing but a few remarks about how the race actually progressed, not the pain, not the feeling, what it meant to row together, what it meant to walk through another crew, etc. There is nothing on the satisfaction of winning or losing (or coming close to it in this case. In short, it fails as an interesting rowing book despite the incredible events he is writing about.

Lastly, this book actually includes the line (starting a haphazard section on his life) "In 1953, my father impregnated my mother." Who writes that?

Don't read. ...more

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Aug 13, 2015 Kate Craig rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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About Rick Rinehart

Rick Rinehart

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Rick Rinehart is a publisher and author of three books, the most recent of which he co-wrote with his wife Amy, Dare to Survive: Death, Heartbreak, and Survival in the Wild. A former Colorado Humanities Scholar, he is also chair of the Mary Roberts Rinehart Foundation's awards program for talented, emerging authors. A member of The Leander Club, Henley-on-Thames, England--the oldest, largest, and ...more