Talk:Rude and Smooth

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Two non-fiction books authoritatively discuss the 1975 Harvard "Rude and Smooth" heavyweight racing eight. The most informative, detailed, incisive and authoritative of these is David Halberstam's The Amateurs (New York, Morrow, 1983), principally about four world-class American rowers vying for slots in International Rowing competitions, including Olympic Games, in the late 70s and early 80s. Halberstam, probably the most respected journalist (Pultizer Prize in journalism for his brutally critical early [1961-62 dispatches from Saigon for the New York Times] accounts of the ineptitudes and dissembling of the American military and politicians) of our era, himself a rower when a Harvard undergraduate, has written a book about rowing that is well nigh irrestible in it's depth, sensitivity and bang-on analysis. Like several of his other sports writings that made the NY Times Best Seller Lists, this book-short, perfectly organized and rewardingly informative even to non-rowers, is an underappreciated work by a man (who died in a car accident in 2007, aged 70+, on his way to an interview with Y.A). Tittle for an upcoming book on the maturing of the NFL with a single football game.

The other work of note about 1975 heavyweight Harvard varsity "Rude and Smooth" eight is The Book of Rowing by David C. Churlbuck (New York, Overlook Press, 1988). This is more a general comprehensive text on rowing but devotes several pages to the Al Sheely stroked 1975 Harvard heavyweight eight crew, and has a very nice black-and-white full page photo of them.