In this volume, Kauai resident and surf historian Timothy DeLaVega has orchestrated a worldwide team of surfing historians, who have compiled surfing images that span the centuries from ancient petroglyphs (rock etchings) to the first modern surfing boom at Waikiki. These images offer a unique and historical perspective, with many never-before-seen images of surfing in Hawai'i.
Title: Celebrate the Surfing History of Hawai'i
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Date: 6/6/2011 PRLog (Press Release) - Jun 06, 2011 - New from
Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series is Surfing in
Hawai'i. In vintage photographs, local author and surf historian
Timothy Tovar DeLaVega shares the history through more than 200
vintage images giving readers a unique opportunity to reconnect to
the history that shaped their community. When the early European
explorers traversed the globe, their journals held numerous
accounts of Hawaiians enjoying surfing. Since Europeans of that era
were not accustomed to swimming in their own cold waters it must
have seemed like a dream to watch naked native Hawaiians riding the
waves of a turbulent sea. Nowhere in the ancient world was surfing
as ingrained into the culture as on the islands of Hawai'i. He'e
nalu (wave sliding) was the national sport and enjoyed by all. When
a swell was up, whole villages were deserted as everyone fled to
the beach to test their surfing skills. Legends of famous surf
riders were retold in mele (song/chant) and fortunes could be
decided on the outcome of a surfing contest. From these shores,
modern surfing was born, along with the iconic romantic images of
bronzed surfers, grass shacks and hula. Available at area
bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through
Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or www.arcadiapublishing.com.
Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional
history in the United States. Our mission is to make history
accessible and meaningful through the publication of books on the
heritage of America's people and places. Have we done a book on
your town? Visit www.arcadiapublishing.com.
Title: Postcard history tells Kauai tale
Author: Burl Burlingame
Publisher: Star Advertiser
Date: 7/31/2011 Arcadia hits one out of the park with this nicely
produced picture history of the early days of surfing, covering the
period from Capt. Cook's first glimpse of board riding to roughly
1930, about the time surfing became more organized. There's a
surprising number of images -- naked Hawaiian maidens riding the
waves was a popular sort of illustration, apparently -- and the
pictures get photographic around the turn of the century. That's
the beginning of the Kahanamoku era, and the half-dozen Hawaiian
brothers were aquatic superstars. The smart, knowing text is from
DeLaVega, who's helped out on occasion by Kahanamoku biographer
Sandra Kimberley Hall. The pictures are well chosen and nicely
reproduced, and bring alive an era when surfing was largely a
local, happily disorganized phenomenon.
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