{"product_id":"barbarian-days-william-finnegan-9781594203473","title":"Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life","description":"\u003cb\u003e**Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Autobiography** \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eIncluded in \u003cb\u003ePresident Obama's 2016 Summer Reading List\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Without a doubt, the finest surf book I've ever read . . . \" \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e--The New York Times Magazine\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eBarbarian Days\u003c\/i\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRaised 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. \u003ci\u003eBarbarian Days\u003c\/i\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFinnegan 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eBarbarian Days \u003c\/i\u003eis 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.\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e William Finnegan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1594203474\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781594203473\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Penguin Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/21\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 464\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.40h x 6.20w x 1.50d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal Prepub Alert\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/15\/2015 pg. 68\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/27\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/15\/2015 pg. 88\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/15\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/15\/2015 pg. 65\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/29\/2015 pg. 85\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eOutside\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2015 pg. 29\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/19\/2015 pg. 8\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/24\/2015 pg. 62\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/26\/2015 pg. 22\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/13\/2015 pg. 30\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/18\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly Best Books\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/02\/2015 pg. 25\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/04\/2015 pg. 46\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNY Times Notable Bks of Year\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/06\/2015 pg. 27\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooks \u0026amp; Culture\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/2016 pg. 34\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/15\/2015","brand":"William Finnegan","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44051418874111,"sku":"9781594203473","price":27.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_74cb2ef2-7185-45c2-8dab-66bc85f4a589.jpg?v=1685012982","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/barbarian-days-william-finnegan-9781594203473","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}