PETER WESTWICK is an assistant research professor of history at the University of Southern California, the director of the Aerospace History Project at the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, and the author or editor of three books.
PETER NEUSHUL is a visiting senior associate researcher in the Department of History at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He has written extensively on defense industries, history of oceanography, and on environmental history.
Los Angeles Times Bestseller "The authors promise an intelligent
guide to surfing. And they have delivered one... The book is a
serious compendium of historical developments in the sport, from
its earliest known roots in Hawaii to today. Westwick and Neushul
bring an academic rigor to the topic, backed up with an impressive
review of the literature from the archives of surf magazines and
The Times to books, films and historical records."- Los Angeles
Times "The authors are studious, meticulous and logical....The
400-plus-page book tracks the strange, cultish practice of riding
an oblong floatation device on the surface of a moving wave. It
ranges from its ancient Polynesian roots to modern competitions,
mechanized wave-pools, and international T-shier corporations,
placing the pastime in larger historical context." -Wall Street
Journal "Peter Westwick and Peter Neushul trace surfing from its
ancient Polynesian roots to its current incarnation as a 'global
commercial and cultural phenomenon.' Along the way, they look at
the connections between surfing and, among other things,
colonialism, technology, Hollywood, advertising, fashion, real
estate development, pollution, climate change -- even Islamic
fundamentalism...The result is provocative and highly entertaining
[and] the authors skillfully debunk some of the myths that have
grown up around the sport." -Washington Post "The great thing about
Peter Westwick and Peter Neushul's new book, The World in the Curl,
is that they explore all the ways surfing has been influenced
by--and has influenced--colonialism, war, capitalist industry, and
other outside historical forces." - Daily Beast
"Surfers will be stoked to read The World in the Curl...Ambitious
and compelling."-Boom: A Journal of California "A lively coverage
recommended for sports and sociology collections alike, which
delves into topics most surfing histories don't begin to
probe."-Midwest Book Review "A well-rounded look at surf culture...
the authors certainly did their research."-Surfermag.com "Westwick
and Neushul's focus on the cultural and socio-economic illuminates
hidden forces that are rarely discussed by even the most
knowledgeable surfers...For every enthusiast killing time before
the next big swell, the authors provide a satisfying immersion into
the story of how a near-extinct Polynesian pastime came back to
conquer the beach." -Publishers Weekly "An encyclopedic history of
riding the waves.... The authors leave no aspect of surfing
unexplored--as rewarding for those addicted to pursuing the 'stoke'
as for others merely smitten by surfing's idyllic island allure."
-Kirkus Reviews "The World in the Curl is the most scholarly and
comprehensive history of the sport born on the waves of Hawaii." -
Fred Hemmings, Hawaii's 1968 world champion surfer and a founding
father of pro surfing "The World in the Curl is a fascinating,
fast-paced chronicle of one of the world's most colorful sports.
Westwick and Neushul have written a book that's as immersive as it
is engaging; one that does deep justice to the power and allure of
the ocean itself." --Susan Casey, author of The Wave "Surf's up!
And so is this history and celebration of the surfing art, at once
academically impressive yet alive with the passion and insight of
two surfer dude professors of a kind-and a book-that only
California can produce." -Kevin Starr, University of Southern
California
"Every surfer on earth ought to buy and read this book. From the
motorized 'warboards' developed by the US military in WW2, to the
hidden racist evil of legendary surfer Mickey Dora, The World in
the Curl offers that greatest of gifts to any sub-culture: taking
it seriously, treating our great sport as a legitimate lens through
which to view human experience in, on, and around the oceans for
the last thousand years." -Daniel Duane, author of Caught
Inside
"Although not often recognized as such, the ocean is by far the
planet's largest wilderness. Surfing takes place at a frontier of
civilization. Peter Westwick and Peter Neushul make their book come
alive because they have walked (and swum!) the talk. It's an
inside, honest, sometimes painful, story. Surfing provides the
matrix, but there is broader and deeper dimension to this book.
It's a cultural, environmental, and sociological history of the
interface between our species and the edge of the continents." -
Roderick Frazier Nash, Professor Emeritus of History and
Environmental Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara
and author of Wilderness and the American Mind "The World in the
Curl deftly and engagingly charts the origins and evolution of
surfing from ancient Polynesian pastime to a truly global sport
with 20 million devotees, from Tasmania to Iceland, Gaza to Japan.
Surfing's cultural and commercial influence reaches vastly farther,
touching billions with pervasive images of personal freedom, youth,
and quintessential cool. Westwick and Neushul show that surfing's
rise has surprising depths, as it became the world's most
iconoclastically-iconic sport by thriving at the intersections of
radical change: colonialism, capitalism, consumerism, shifting
gender, class, and racial mores, and above all in the paradoxical
landscapes of modern war: with leisured teenagers in Sunbelt
suburbs, with soldiers in Vietnam, and with aerospace engineers
making surfboards and wetsuits with techniques and materials from
the military-industrial complex. Surfing has long had a split
personality: is it harmless, wholesome fun, or a more subversive,
outsider activity? Is it soulful communion with nature, or
commercial enterprise, competitive and commodified? Throughout the
narrative, we are reminded of the social and moral dimensions of
sports, perfectly exemplified by 'surfing's constant struggle to
save its soul.'"- Wade Graham, author of American Eden
"Surfing rides the wave of history in Peter Westwick and Peter
Neushul's The World in the Curl. Through deeply researched and
engagingly told tales from the Polynesian settlement of Hawaii to
today's global surf industry, Westwick and Neushul take us into the
impact zone where surfing and society collide and cultures are
transformed. This book is as epic, in its way, as a big day at
Mavericks. Read it for its context, dig it for its stoke." -David
Helvarg, author of The Golden Shore "An excellent read, a scholarly
look beneath the surface which results in a greater appreciation of
the texture of an alluring sport and lifestyle." -Shaun Tomson,
world champion surfer and author of Surfer's Code "With excellent
research and epic storytelling skills, they expose the
contradictory reality of surfing without forgetting the thrill of
catching a wave. This entertaining book isn't just for surfers -
it's about how the modern world looks from inside the curl." -
Matthew Stewart, author of The Courtier and the Heretic "Surfers,
sprung from the natural sea to a Beach Boys soundtrack - who knew
their origins span colonial confrontation to aerospace innovation?
The World in the Curl is a brilliant history of sport, culture,
technology and crashing political waves, a perfect ride for anyone
who delights in understanding the complex crosscurrents that have
shaped our social history." -David Beers, author of Blue Sky Dream
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