In great condition, has some signs of shelf-wear
Surfing is not just a sport; it is a pop-culture phenomenon. Surfing has created legends, while seizing the spotlight in every aspect of beach culture, in movies, in fashion, and in music. Surfing has evolved from its mystical beginnings in Polynesia, where it was valued as noble, positive, and deeply imbued with spiritual meaning but condemned by critics (mostly religious conservatives) who considered it “pagan, immoral, and corrupting.” And we’ve come a long way from pre–World War II days, when Hawaii' was as remote as Timbuktu; when itchy wool swimsuits and heavy hardwood surfboards were the norm.
We’ve matured since the 1950s and 1960s, with their trendy popularity—the culture and fashion, the movies and music, from “Gidget” to the Beach Boys and those bushy, bushy blond hairdos—to today, when the glitz of sophisticated marketing campaigns and media-savvy surfers are “de rigueur.” Yet, through the years, surfing has maintained its reputation as a refuge for non-conformists; the often-below-the-radar individualistic lifestyle defies a dry chronicle neatly tied up with a bow.
A comprehensive history of the sport by Ben Marcus, a man who lived it and who knows and loves it like nothing else, Surfing USA! is anything but dry; it truly captures the glamour and excitement of this extreme sport. If you are still in awe of that first surfboard, still stoked by hanging ten, or still dreaming of that elusive wave, then this book is for you. Ben Marcus, the former editor of “Surfer” magazine and current freelancer for such publications as “Surfer’s Journal,” brings you up close and personal to the exciting world of surfing.
- Publisher : Voyageur Press; First Edition (October 27, 2005)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 208 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0896586901
- ISBN-13 : 978-0896586901
- Item Weight : 3.08 pounds
- Dimensions : 9.25 x 0.92 x 11 inches
Surfing USA!: An Illustrated History of the Coolest Sport of All Time
Paul is a lifelong resident of coastal San Diego, attending high school at a time when Independent surfing was an option for Phys. Ed., and Rock Poetry was passed off as an advanced English course. It didn’t take much for him to become disenchanted with formal education and drop out of The University of Southern California to embrace his entrepreneurial side. Paul is a multi-patented inventor, a photographer (oceanfrontphotos.com), and has built several successful businesses. Embracing his love of baseball and the ocean, he attends every San Diego Padres home game, and lives in Mission Beach, California.
