Brief History of Surfing, A

Matt Warshaw is the former editor of Surfer magazine and has been writing about surfing for more than twenty years. A surfer all his life, he competed professionally in the early eighties. Warshaw's articles have been published in the New York Times Magazine and the Wall Street Journal, and he is the author of several books on surfing. He lives in San Francisco.

"Authoritative and gorgeous, Matt Warshaw's History of Surfing sits alone at the top of its class. The prose is supple, full of subtle pleasures and laughs, the storytelling as fluent and detail-rich as a well-ridden wave. Warshaw's judgments are seasoned by decades of close, hard-headed attention to a subject he could not resist. He had to write this book, and he nails it for the ages."
--William Finnegan, author of Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life

"Meticulously researched, smartly written, beautifully laid out . . . required reading."
-Outside Magazine

"If for your teens summer means sun and surf, this is the book for them...A Brief History of Surfing covers surfing from its beginnings (pre-1900) to today. Important people, moments in the history of surfing, locations, surfboard development, and more are highlighted in individual entries. The glossy pages, full-page photos, and use of white space enhance the readability of this small, almost square-shaped book. Warshaw is the former editor of Surfing magazine, and his books are considered essential reading on the sport. "
-School Library Journal