SKU: 99278500438

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life

Sale price$15.30 Regular price$17.00
Save 10%

Pay in installments of $4.25 with ShopPay, AfterPay and Klarna

Shipping Estimate
USA
  • USA
  • CAN

Ships within 48 hours · Estimated delivery Sep 1 - Sep 6

Promo Codes Available:

For Your Every Summer RSVP, with Code: SUMMER15

Description

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life**Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Autobiography** "Reading this guy on the subject of waves and water is like reading Hemingway on bullfighting; William Burroughs on controlled substances; Updike on adultery. . . . a coming of age story, seen through the gloss resin coat of a surfboard." Sports Illustrated Included in President Obama's 2016 Summer Reading List Barbarian Days is William Finnegan's memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment.

**Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Autobiography**

"Reading this guy on the subject of waves and water is like reading Hemingway on bullfighting; William Burroughs on controlled substances; Updike on adultery. . . . a coming-of-age story, seen through the gloss resin coat of a surfboard." --Sports Illustrated

Included in President Obama's 2016 Summer Reading List

Barbarian Days is William Finnegan's memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates, it is something else: 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 distinguished 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 forged in challenging waves.

Finnegan shares stories of life in a whites-only gang in a tough school in Honolulu. 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. As Finnegan's travels take him ever farther afield, he discovers the picturesque simplicity of a Samoan fishing village, dissects the sexual politics of Tongan interactions with Americans and Japanese, and navigates the Indonesian black market while nearly succumbing to malaria. Throughout, he surfs, carrying readers with him on rides of harrowing, unprecedented lucidity.

Barbarian Days is an old-school adventure story, an intellectual autobiography, a social history, a literary road movie, and an extraordinary exploration of the gradual mastering of an exacting, little-understood art.

Praise for Barbarian Days

"Without a doubt, the finest surf book I've ever read . . . But on a more fundamental level, Barbarian Days offers a clear-eyed vision of American boyhood. Like Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, it is a sympathetic examination of what happens when literary ideas of freedom and purity take hold of a young mind and fling his body out into the far reaches of the world." --The New York Times Magazine

"Incandescent . . . I'd sooner press this book upon on a nonsurfer, in part because nothing I've read so accurately describes the feeling of being stoked or the despair of being held under. . . . But] it's also about a writer's life and, even more generally, a quester's life, more carefully observed and precisely rendered than any I've read in a long time." --Los Angeles Times


Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Group
Published: 04/26/2016
ISBN: 9780143109396
Pages: 464
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.45w x 1.00d
Shipping Notes
  • Free Standard Shipping on $100+ Orders to the USA.
  • Except Preorder products are shipped in 48 hours.
  • Delivery to the USA:
  1. Standard Shipping : 3-10 business days
  • If time is of the essence, please consider selecting expedited delivery for faster service.
Exchange/Return Notes
  • We offer a 30-day return/exchange service after receiving.
  • Final sale items are not eligible for returns or exchanges.
  • To process your return/exchange, please contact us at [email protected]
  • Please click here for more details>>> Return & Exchange Policy
SKU: 99278500438

Discover Niche Categories That Outsell

Top-Converting Item to Boost Your Average Order

4.6 ★★★★★
Based on 21 reviews
Sort
Highest Rating
Newest First
Oldest First
Product Reviews
P
Verified Purchase
Pam’s Product Picks
Port Orchard, US
★★★★★ 4
Durable bone that you can add a spreadable treat to
Color: Blue
Our German Shepherd was 4 months old when we purchased this. She’s going to be 6 months soon. She has been teething really bad. We wanted some way to sooth her pain. This product was just what we needed. We put it in the freezer with some peanut butter in the center on both sides. Once frozen we give to our puppy. She loves it. When we open the freezer she recognizes the ziplock package that it was delivered in which we store it in our freezer. She jumps around until we give it to her. She loves it and it keeps her occupied for a while. It is very durable. I did not notice any smell when we received it. It does not make any noise. The plastic material is safe for animals. To clean I put in the dishwasher. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is because sometimes the peanut butter gets stuck in it and may need to go through the dishwasher twice which is not a big deal. Or you can hand wash it. I found the dishwasher was best for us. You do not even have to put anything on it, but our pup likes it. I would recommend to others.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2025
K
Verified Purchase
Kristi K
Lexington, US
★★★★★ 5
Well-made and great size for the price!
Color: blue black
Very tough product, no odor of plastic, good toy for outside, perfect for medium or large dogs. Noise isn't too bad and the color is cute as well. Can't destroy this toy!
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2026
H
Verified Purchase
Haley
Lowell, US
★★★★★ 5
Durable Great for aggressive chewers
Color: Blue
Will make one whole room smell like fake bacon, but my dogs love it and it’s super strong and durable. I have a lab mixed with rotty and a full lab so it’s a perfect match.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2026
R
Verified Purchase
RUBEN ARELLANO
Bozeman, US
★★★★★ 5
Indestructible bully toy
Color: Blue
We have a bully that chews through everything, believe it when I say, he loves this n it is still in one piece. Where I put treats in it or not. He’s also able to play tug of war with is brother with this toy. I will be buying additional ones!
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2026
L
Verified Purchase
Lucie P
Omaha, US
★★★★★ 4
Durable, Dogs love it
Color: Red
My Frenchie is a crazy chewer and can chew up a nylabone in a day, so I was looking for something that would last longer. So far this is holding up, and is pretty durable. Both my dogs like it a lot, it’s easy for them to grasp, and chewable but still very tough material. I suspect at some point it’ll wear down, but not for a while. The size was just as described / expected. Not too small and not too big
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2025

recommand products