9780520279117-0520279115-Empire in Waves: A Political History of Surfing (Volume 1) (Sport in World History)

Empire in Waves: A Political History of Surfing (Volume 1) (Sport in World History)

ISBN-13: 9780520279117
ISBN-10: 0520279115
Edition: First Edition
Author: Scott Laderman
Publication date: 2014
Publisher: University of California Press
Format: Paperback 256 pages
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Book details

ISBN-13: 9780520279117
ISBN-10: 0520279115
Edition: First Edition
Author: Scott Laderman
Publication date: 2014
Publisher: University of California Press
Format: Paperback 256 pages

Summary

Empire in Waves: A Political History of Surfing (Volume 1) (Sport in World History) (ISBN-13: 9780520279117 and ISBN-10: 0520279115), written by authors Scott Laderman, was published by University of California Press in 2014. With an overall rating of 4.4 stars, it's a notable title among other State & Local (United States History, Military History, World History, Surfing, Water Sports, Americas History) books. You can easily purchase or rent Empire in Waves: A Political History of Surfing (Volume 1) (Sport in World History) (Paperback) from BooksRun, along with many other new and used State & Local books and textbooks. And, if you're looking to sell your copy, our current buyback offer is $0.62.

Description

Surfing today evokes many things: thundering waves, warm beaches, bikinis and lifeguards, and carefree pleasure. But is the story of surfing really as simple as popular culture suggests? In this first international political history of the sport, Scott Laderman shows that while wave riding is indeed capable of stimulating tremendous pleasure, its globalization went hand in hand with the blood and repression of the long twentieth century.

Emerging as an imperial instrument in post-annexation Hawaii, spawning a form of tourism that conquered the littoral Third World, tracing the struggle against South African apartheid, and employed as a diplomatic weapon in America's Cold War arsenal, the saga of modern surfing is only partially captured by Gidget, the Beach Boys, and the film Blue Crush. From nineteenth-century American empire-building in the Pacific to the low-wage labor of the surf industry today, Laderman argues that surfing in fact closely mirrored American foreign relations. Yet despite its less-than-golden past, the sport continues to captivate people worldwide.

Whether in El Salvador or Indonesia or points between, the modern history of this cherished pastime is hardly an uncomplicated story of beachside bliss. Sometimes messy, occasionally contentious, but never dull, surfing offers us a whole new way of viewing our globalized world.

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