Throughout Joe Rantz’s life, he had lived through certain events such as The Great Depression, and even experienced the start of Seattle’s Hooverville, both are substantial to explaining how Joe Rantz and his crew’s living situations were as they rowed for a chance in the Olympics. After America’s stock market crashed in 1929, the nation plunged into a financial decline, affecting working Americans greatly. Occupations were limited and most likely unavailable, resulting to many homeless people. In the book, the author had stated that, “One in four working Americans-ten million people-had no job and no prospects of finding one, and only a quarter of them were receiving any kind of relief” (Brown 14). The Depression showed the problems of Americans