The personal journeys of the key figures in The Boys in the Boat are influenced by the larger historical events of the 1930s in the US and Germany. The rise of Nazi Germany led to Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939, which precipitated World War II. The US stock market crash in 1929 was the catalyst for the Great Depression, which ended in 1941 when the US entered World War II. After the stock market crash, about half of all banks in America shut down, and many people lost their life savings in addition to their jobs. Unemployment rates soared to the highest levels in history. Joe was 15 years old in 1929, which also marked the year that his father and stepmother abandoned him. Joe was familiar with displacement, but this was the first time he was left to survive on his own. The fear, uncertainty, and isolation he felt in that moment matched the overall feeling that swept the US during the Great Depression.

However, Joe transformed these feelings into fuel for his steadfast mission to endure and excel. He began to survive on his own, foraging and poaching his food. He looked for ways to make money wherever he could find them, from poaching and selling fish, to stealing and reselling alcohol, to a variety of physically taxing jobs.