Complex sentence: The non-fiction book is about the University of Washington 8-ored crew which represented the United States in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and narrowly beat out Italy and Germany to win the Gold Medal.
Split into simpler sentences: The non-fiction book is about the University of Washington 8-man rowing team which represented the United States in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. They beat Italy and Germany to win the Gold Medal.