Barbarian Days

Barbarian Days

Author: William Finnegan

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2016-04-26

Total Pages: 466

ISBN-13: 0143109391

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**Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Autobiography** Included in President Obama’s 2016 Summer Reading List “Without a doubt, the finest surf book I’ve ever read . . . ” —The New York Times Magazine Barbarian Days is William Finnegan’s memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates, it is something else: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life. Raised in California and Hawaii, Finnegan started surfing as a child. He has chased waves all over the world, wandering for years through the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, Africa. A bookish boy, and then an excessively adventurous young man, he went on to become a distinguished writer and war reporter. Barbarian Days takes us deep into unfamiliar worlds, some of them right under our noses—off the coasts of New York and San Francisco. It immerses the reader in the edgy camaraderie of close male friendships forged in challenging waves. Finnegan shares stories of life in a whites-only gang in a tough school in Honolulu. He shows us a world turned upside down for kids and adults alike by the social upheavals of the 1960s. He details the intricacies of famous waves and his own apprenticeships to them. Youthful folly—he drops LSD while riding huge Honolua Bay, on Maui—is served up with rueful humor. As Finnegan’s travels take him ever farther afield, he discovers the picturesque simplicity of a Samoan fishing village, dissects the sexual politics of Tongan interactions with Americans and Japanese, and navigates the Indonesian black market while nearly succumbing to malaria. Throughout, he surfs, carrying readers with him on rides of harrowing, unprecedented lucidity. Barbarian Days is an old-school adventure story, an intellectual autobiography, a social history, a literary road movie, and an extraordinary exploration of the gradual mastering of an exacting, little-understood art.


Cold New World

Cold New World

Author: William Finnegan

Publisher: Modern Library

Published: 2010-09-29

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 0307766144

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From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Barbarian Days, this narrative nonfiction classic documents the rising inequality and cultural alienation that presaged the crises of today. “A status report on the American Dream [that] gets its power [from] the unpredictable, rich specifics of people’s lives.”—Time “[William] Finnegan’s real achievement is to attach identities to the steady stream of faceless statistics that tell us America’s social problems are more serious than we want to believe.”—The Washington Post A fifteen-year-old drug dealer in blighted New Haven, Connecticut; a sleepy Texas town transformed by crack; Mexican American teenagers in Washington State, unable to relate to their immigrant parents and trying to find an identity in gangs; jobless young white supremacists in a downwardly mobile L.A. suburb. William Finnegan spent years embedded with families in four communities across the country to become an intimate observer of the lives he reveals in Cold New World. What emerges from these beautifully rendered portraits is a prescient and compassionate book that never loses sight of its subjects’ humanity. A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • A LOS ANGELES TIMES BEST NONFICTION SELECTION Praise for Cold New World “Unlike most journalists who drop in for a quick interview and fly back out again, Finnegan spent many weeks with families in each community over a period of several years, enough time to distinguish between the kind of short-term problems that can beset anyone and the longer-term systemic poverty and social disintegration that can pound an entire generation into a groove of despair.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review “The most remarkable of William Finnegan’s many literary gifts is his compassion. Not the fact of it, which we have a right to expect from any personal reporting about the oppressed, but its coolness, its clarity, its ductile strength. . . . Finnegan writes like a dream. His prose is unfailingly lucid, graceful, and specific, his characterization effortless, and the pull of his narrative pure seduction.”—The Village Voice “Four astonishingly intimate and evocative portraits. . . . All of these stories are vividly, honestly and compassionately told. . . . While Cold New World may make us look in new ways at our young people, perhaps its real goal is to make us look at ourselves.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer


After Surfing Ocean Beach

After Surfing Ocean Beach

Author: Mary Soderstrom

Publisher: Dundurn

Published: 2004-04-27

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9781550025095

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Rick doesn't have time to think. He plunges his knife into the stranger's gut, believing he is defending himself from an attacker. But Rick is wrong about the man's intentions, and as he flees the scene, the innocent man bleeds to death, leaving Rick horrified by what he has done. It is a moment of panic that changes Rick's life forever. It is also a moment that brings Rick face to face with his past, as we soon discover that the slain man was not a stranger after all.


Dateline Soweto

Dateline Soweto

Author: William Finnegan

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2023-04-28

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 0520915690

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Dateline Soweto documents the working lives of black South African reporters caught between the mistrust of militant blacks, police harrassment, and white editors who—fearing government disapproval—may not print the stories these reporters risk their lives to get. William Finnegan revisited several of these reporters during the May 1994 election and describes their post-apartheid working experience in a new preface and epilogue. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1995. Dateline Soweto documents the working lives of black South African reporters caught between the mistrust of militant blacks, police harrassment, and white editors who—fearing government disapproval—may not print the stories these reporters risk the


The Encyclopedia of Surfing

The Encyclopedia of Surfing

Author: Matt Warshaw

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 820

ISBN-13: 9780156032513

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With 1,500 alphabetical entries and 300 illustrations, this resource is a comprehensive review of the people, places, events, equipment, vernacular, and lively history of this fascinating sport.


A Complicated War

A Complicated War

Author: William Finnegan

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1992-02-06

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 9780520082663

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Among Africa's suffering is the little- known war in Mozambique, now in its second decade. Finnegan traveled through the country in 1988 to assess the impact of a war waged by guerrillas who are armed and often directed by South Africa. He tells a compelling story of rural misery caused by the war, which in turn offers a fertile ground for its continuation. Finnegan's narrative includes historical background and critical analysis of the Mozambique government whose policies have not created an inclusive framework for the nation. Finnegan is drawn to the conclusion that Mozambique's peasants long have been denied the fruits of peace: first under centuries of Portuguese colonialism; and now as they are exposed to the current war that is destroying their future.


The Barbarian Way

The Barbarian Way

Author: Erwin Raphael McManus

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Published: 2005-02-08

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 1418513318

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It's time to rediscover the passionate, fearless life that Jesus called us to live. Are you ready to choose the barbarian way? In today's world, where faith often walks the line of comfort and convenience, The Barbarian Way, stands as a thunderous call to break free and experience Christianity as it was truly meant to be - wild, free, and untamed. An acclaimed author and dynamic lead pastor of Mosaic, a Los Angeles church movement, Erwin McManus challenges you to step out of the safety of the familiar, urging you to live with unbridled faith and boldness that will fulfill the deepest longing of your heart. This Christian classic opens up a new way to view your walk with Christ, encouraging you to take risks and liberate yourself from mundane existence. Join an engaged community of spiritual seekers and followers of Christ as you: Challenge yourself to live a more bold faith Satisfy the deepest cravings of your soul Discover a revolutionary way to live as a Christian Brave the unknown, armed with passion With each chapter, Erwin McManus examines Biblical figures like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, and Samson. Viewing their eccentric lives through a lens of vibrant faith, the book reminds us that faith is not a shield against adversity, but a call to meaningful and sometimes challenging contribution. The book aims to dismantle the belief that God's will is a haven of comfort and safety, propelling readers instead towards a life of valor, adventure, and sacrifice. Read The Barbarian Way and ignite the flame within to live out your faith with a radical, barbaric love. This is your moment, your crossroads, your destiny. Choose to live passionately, boldly, fearlessly. Choose the barbarian way!


30 Days of Night: Rumors of the Undead

30 Days of Night: Rumors of the Undead

Author: Steve Niles

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2006-03-08

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 1416516077

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In a sleepy, secluded Alaska town called Barrow, the sun sets and doesn't rise for more than thirty consecutive days and nights from November to December. During this time a few years ago, from the darkness and across the frozen wasteland, an evil that normally preferred to exist in the shadows descended upon Barrow and brought the residents to their knees. Barrow's only hope was Eben and Stella Olemaun, a husband-and-wife law enforcement team who were torn between their own survival and saving the town they loved. Months later, as Stella Olemaun attempts to warn the world about the looming vampire threat by any means necessary, a rogue government agent may be taking more than an active interest in her story. And meanwhile, further north, a new sheriff and his young son must solve the lingering mystery of Barrow, even as the survivors of the original attack prepare for the sun to set once again -- however this time, they're ready. 30 Days Of Night: Rumors Of The Undead is Steve Niles's innovative and eagerly anticipated expansion of a nightmarish narrative that explores the nature of ancient evil existing -- and thriving -- in an unsuspecting modern world.


The Surfer and the Sage

The Surfer and the Sage

Author: Noah benShea

Publisher: Abrams

Published: 2022-06-07

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 1641707003

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Sometimes life’s waves knock you down; other times, life might seem to sweep you along powerless. But the choice is always yours to swim back up to the light. Legendary world champion surfer Shaun Tomson and international bestselling poet-philosopher Noah benShea join forces to offer you insight on a path of purpose, hope, and faith. This timely guidebook alternates between Tomson’s inspiring experiential essays and benShea’s spiritual commentary that lift the soul, all accented with stunning full-color surfing photographs. After losing his son, Tomson walked the bitter road of loss and crossed from darkness into the light. The Surfer and the Sage addresses the eighteen relentless, breaking waves of life, from loss and aging to relationships and depression, and guides you to transformation. It is not a list of rules to follow that guarantee success, health, or wealth, but rather a collection of advice from two guides who have traveled far and wide and suffered deeply, but still look forward to tomorrow with faith and hope.


Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell

Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell

Author: Chas Smith

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2013-11-19

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 0062202545

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A finalist for the PEN Center USA Award for Nonfiction Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell, is surfer and former war reporter Chas Smith’s wild and unflinching look at the high-stakes world of surfing on Oahu’s North Shore—a riveting, often humorous, account of beauty, greed, danger, and crime. For two months every winter, when Pacific storms make landfall, swarms of mainlanders, Brazilians, Australians, and Europeans flock to Oahu’s paradisiacal North Shore in pursuit of some of the greatest waves on earth for surfing’s Triple Crown competition. Chas Smith reveals how this influx transforms a sleepy, laid-back strip of coast into a lawless, violent, drug-addled, and adrenaline-soaked mecca. Smith captures this exciting and dangerous place where locals, outsiders, the surf industry, and criminal elements clash in a fascinating look at class, race, power, money, and crime, set within one of the most beautiful places on earth. The result is a breathtaking blend of crime and adventure that captures the allure and wickedness of this idyllic golden world.