Stuart H. Coleman’s new book Fierce Heart: The Story of Makaha and the Soul of Hawaiian Surfing was just released nationally by St. Martin’s Press. The author will be traveling across Southern California to do signings with world champion surfer and Surfrider Foundation board member Shaun Tomson, who will talk about his new book and film Bustin’ Down the Door. The pair will also be working with the Surfrider Foundation to do signing parties to benefit local chapters and their continued efforts to protect our oceans, waves and beaches. “I started surfing when Shaun won the world championship in the late 70’s, and I was in awe of him,” Coleman says. “After writing about Shaun in both of my books, I’m stoked to be going on tour with him!”
FIERCE HEART is the biography of a people and a place that represent the heart of surfing and Hawaiian culture. The small town of Makaha on Oahu’s Westside has produced Hawaii’s biggest icons and some of the most talented surfers in the world: Hawaiian watermen like Buffalo Keaulana and his sons Rusty, a world champion surfer, and Brian, an accomplished lifeguard, big-wave surfer and Hollywood stuntman; beautiful surf goddesses like Rell Sunn, Hawaii’s first female lifeguard and professional surfer who was known as the “Queen of Makaha”; and musician Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, who eventually became the biggest artist in Hawaii and the voice of the Hawaiian Sovereignty movement. Like shooting stars, Rell and Iz blazed a bright trail across the sky, but their lives burned out too soon. On the 50th anniversary of statehood (and Israel’s birth), FIERCE HEART chronicles the history of Hawaii’s wild Westside and the enduring legacy of its leaders.
BUSTIN’ DOWN THE DOOR is about a group of young surfers from Australia and South Africa who risked it all to revolutionize the sport of surfing and create an industry that is now worth billions of dollars. With a radical new approach and a brash colonial attitude, these surfers helped create a professional world tour but crashed headlong into a culture that was not ready for revolution.
Shaun Tomson was one of those pioneering surfers who changed the sport forever, and he went on to become a successful pro surfer, businessman and environmental leader with the Surfrider Foundation. His new documentary and book BUSTIN’ DOWN THE DOOR describes surfing’s coming of age and captures the spirit of this tumultuous time period with all of its danger, beauty and pure excitement. For more information, go to: www.bustindownthedoor.com.
Stuart H. Coleman is the author of the award-winning book Eddie Would Go and has written for numerous publications, including Men’s Journal, Salon.com, Sierra Magazine, Surfer’s Journal and The Washington Post. Coleman works as the Surfrider Foundation’s Hawaii Regional Coordinator. For more information, go to: www.stuart-coleman.com.