Book excerpt: The Greatest Rowing Stories Ever Told collects articles and excerpts of classic rowing stories, from the inception of the sport on English waters in the eighteenth century, through the scandalous era of professionalism (and gambling) of the nineteenth century, to the popular amateur sport of today. The contributors include prominent oarsmen and women, historians of the sport, and even poets and songwriters. Recall here the great rivalries, the pageantry of the regattas, the poetic solitude of the single sculler, and many other aspects of a sport entering its third century.