William Finnegan Livres

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHY 2016 WINNER OF THE 2016 WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR PRIZE Surfing only looks like a sport. To devotees, it is something else entirely: a beautiful addiction, a mental and physical study, a passionate way of life. William Finnegan first started surfing as a young boy in California and Hawaii. Barbarian Days is his immersive memoir of a life spent travelling the world chasing waves through the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, Africa and beyond. Finnegan describes the edgy yet enduring brotherhood forged among the swell of the surf; and recalling his own apprenticeship to the world's most famous and challenging waves, he considers the intense relationship formed between man, board and water. Barbarian Days is an old-school adventure story, a social history, an extraordinary exploration of one man's gradual mastering of an exacting and little-understood art. It is a memoir of dangerous obsession and enchantment.

Surfing transcends mere sport; for enthusiasts, it embodies a beautiful addiction and a way of life. Raised in California and Hawaii, Finnegan began surfing as a child and spent years chasing waves across the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, and Africa. A bookish boy turned adventurous young man, he later became a writer and war reporter. His narrative delves into unfamiliar worlds, including the coasts of New York and San Francisco, and captures the edgy camaraderie of male friendships forged in challenging surf. Finnegan recounts experiences in a whites-only gang at a tough Honolulu school, while maintaining a close friendship with a native Hawaiian surfer. He reflects on the social upheavals of the 1960s that affected both kids and adults. His tales include the intricacies of famous waves and his personal journey to master them, blending youthful folly—like dropping LSD while surfing Honolua Bay—with rueful humor. Alongside a friend, he explores Polynesia, discovering one of the world's greatest waves while camping on a deserted island in Fiji. His travels take him deeper into the role of an unlikely anthropologist, examining the dynamics of a Samoan fishing village, the sexual politics in Tonga, and navigating Indonesia's black market while battling malaria. Throughout, he continues to surf.

Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates, it is something else entirely: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life. Raised in California and Hawaii, Finnegan started surfing as a child. He has chased waves all over the world, wandering for years through the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, Africa. A bookish boy, and then an excessively adventurous young man, he went on to become a writer and war reporter. Barbarian Days takes us deep into unfamiliar worlds, some of them right under our noses -- off the coasts of New York and San Francisco. It immerses the reader in the edgy camaraderie of close male friendships annealed in challenging waves. Finnegan shares stories of life in a whites-only gang in a tough school in Honolulu even while his closest friend was a native Hawaiian surfer. He shows us a world turned upside down for kids and adults alike by the social upheavals of the 1960s. He details the intricacies of famous waves and his own apprenticeships to them. Youthful folly -- he drops LSD while riding huge Honolua Bay, on Maui -- is served up with rueful humor. He and a buddy, their knapsacks crammed with reef charts, bushwhack through Polynesia. They discover, while camping on an uninhabited island in Fiji, one of the world's greatest waves. As Finnegan's travels take him ever farther afield, he becomes an improbable anthropologist: unpicking the picturesque simplicity of a Samoan fishing village, dissecting the sexual politics of Tongan interactions with Americans and Japanese, navigating the Indonesian black market while nearly succumbing to malaria. Throughout, he surfs

Challenges the understanding of the war that has turned Mozambique - a naturally rich country - into one of the world's poorest nations. This book combines frontline reporting, personal narrative, political analysis, and scholarship to present a picture of a Mozambique harrowed by local conflicts - ethnic, religious, political and personal.

New Yorker writer William Finnegan spent time with families in four communities across America and became an intimate observer of the lives he reveals in these beautifully rendered portraits: a fifteen-year-old drug dealer in blighted New Haven, Connecticut; a sleepy Texas town transformed by crack; Mexican American teenagers in Washington State, unable to relate to their immigrant parents and trying to find an identity in gangs; jobless young white supremacists in a downwardly mobile L.A. suburb. Important, powerful, and compassionate, Cold New World gives us an unforgettable look into a present that presages our future

In this groundbreaking work of social journalism, a spotlight is cast on a population we find it easy, or convenient, to overlook. "While the national economy has been growing, the economic prospects of most Americans have been dimming," William Finnegan writes. "A new American class structure is being born--one that is harsher, in many ways, than the one it is replacing. Some people are thriving in it, of course. This book is about some families who are not. More particularly, it's about their children who are teenagers and young adults, about their lives and times, how they speak and act as they try to find their way in this cold new world. Finnegan spent time with families in four communities across America and became an intimate observer of the lives revealed in these beautifully rendered portraits: A fifteen-year-old drug dealer in blighted New Haven, Connecticut. A sleepy Texas town transformed when crack arrives. Mexican American teenagers in Washington State, unable to relate to their immigrant parents and trying to find an identity in gangs. Jobless young white supremacists in a downwardly mobile L.A. suburb. This is a book about race, class, and social change that never loses sight of its subjects' humanity. The kids in these pages are complex, multifaceted individuals, alternately sympathetic and frustrating, as richly drawn and compelling as characters in a novel. At the same time, Finnegan's journalism goes beyond reportage as he lays bare the economic trends and political decisions that have created this harsher America-- a country where inequality and cultural alienation grow at a dangerous pace. Important, powerful, and compassionate, Cold New World gives us an unforgettable look into a present that presages our future.

NAJLEPSZA KSIĄŻKA O SURFINGU, JAKA KIEDYKOLWIEK ZOSTAŁA NAPISANA Surfing to sport, lecz tylko dla tych, którzy przyglądają mu się z boku. Dla wtajemniczonych jest czymś znacznie więcej: pięknym nałogiem, wymagającym nauczycielem, niebezpiecznym zajęciem, sposobem na życie. Dni barbarzyńców to oldskulowa historia przygodowa, intelektualna autobiografia, literackie kino drogi, a także niezwykła eksploracja stopniowego doskonalenia wymagającej, mało rozumianej sztuki, jaką jest surfing. W pogoni za falą łatwo jest rzucić wszystko Ale czy jesteś na to gotowy? William Finnegan (ur. 1957) amerykański pisarz i korespondent wojenny, wieloletni publicysta New Yorkera. Laureat licznych nagród dziennikarskich za teksty o konfliktach w różnych rejonach świata. W nagrodzonych Pulitzerem Dniach barbarzyńców składa hołd swojej największej pasji, jaką jest surfing, oraz zdaje intymną relację z życia, którego rytm podyktowały fale. Zapierająca dech w piersiach. The New York Times Dzieło sztuki. Geoff Dyer, The Observer Olśniewająca. Los Angeles Times Wymieniona na liście wakacyjnych lektur Baracka Obamy. Zdobywca Nagrody Pulitzera w kategorii Autobiografia. Powyższy opis pochodzi od wydawcy