Catching a Wave Across the World of Global Surf Culture
I love surfing. I’ve always been fascinated by the surf culture (Point Break is one of my favorite movies ever.) So when I saw this book, I did what any self-respecting Southern California surfer dude would do: I bought it.
I was expecting a “surfari” of sort but what I got was so much more. I was immersed in a global adventure, history lessons, cultural analysis and fine reporting by the pithy prose of Michael Scott Moore. A foreign correspondent and a world traveler himself, Moore took me on a global journey that is as unique as it is enriching. He wrote nine very entertaining and informative chapters about the culture of surfing around the world starting in California and moving on to Hawaii, Indonesia, Germany, Morocco, England, Israel, Gaza, Cuba, Sao Tome and Principe, and Japan.
Hawaii has surfing in its blood, culture and history, and the state just recently made it a High School sport. In, California, Huntington Beach is crowned “Surf City” and by so sparked the birth of a new counterculture that soon after took over the nation. In Munich, people surf canals and risk being arrested for doing so. In Morocco, a surf school is instituted by the King to counter the radical Islamic wave threatening the youth. In Gaza, surfing is as popular as a falafel sandwitch.
The stories collected in this book are a testament to the power of American pop-culture and its indelible effect on the lives of people worldwide. I’m not just talking Madonna, Michael Jackson, Eminem, Friends, Glee or Desperate Housewives. I’m talking about skateboarding, rollerskating and of course, surfing. The American way of life is evidently embraced and emulated even in parts of the world where we think we’re so despised.
You don’t have to like surfing to enjoy this book. If you love travel and adventure, you will enjoy it. If you love history and culture, you will enjoy it. And of course, if you love all of that and love to surf, you will definitely love this book.
Ismail Elshareef 