Helvarg - The golden shore: Californias love affair with the sea

Praise for The Golden Shore

David Helvargs passion for the ocean is equaled only by his elegance in writing about it. Like the ocean itself, The Golden Shore ranges from the glimmering surface to mysterious mid-waters to far deeper realms. This book will remind everyone who reads it of one fundamental fact: we live on a water planet. No author has conveyed this with more art and meaning.

Susan Casey, author of The Wave and Voices in the Ocean

Helvarg dives deep into history to remind us of all the forces that have shaped Californias coastline and near-shore watersand our attitudes about them.

Los Angeles Times

The Golden Shore is a thrilling read. Join master storyteller David Helvarg on a heart-pounding journey into the tumultuous past, provocative present, and promising future of Californias wild blue frontier.

Sylvia Earle, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence

Having lived in California for forty-four years, I was surprised by how much I learned from David Helvargs book The Golden Shore. It blew my mind. If you have the same love affair with the beautiful California coast and ocean as I do, this marvelous and compelling book is a must-read.

Jean-Michel Cousteau, explorer and founder and president
of the Ocean Futures Society

In this ambitious work, journalist and conservationist Helvarg successfully relates the myriad ways in which Californians engage with their beloved Pacific.

Publishers Weekly

A broad, insightful exploration of the Golden States pristine coastline and its social and ecological impact on the nation... A lush, labor-of-love appreciation of maritime California.

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A comprehensive history of Californias long relationship with its shoreline, covering everything from commercial shipping to surfing to fishing to the U.S. Navy... A unique and enthralling work.

Booklist (starred review)

The Golden Shore is a history of Californias relationship with the ocean, but its much more than a straightforward history. Its also a travelogue with elements of geography, geology, sociology and ecology, brought to life through the people [Helvarg] interviews and his own observations and experiences as a bodysurfer, diver, writer and lifelong Californian (who lived 10 years in Ocean Beach). It should be required reading for anyone in California, whether native or newcomer, as an introduction (or reintroduction) to the diverse places and issues that hug our shore.

San Diego Union-Tribune

Helvarg is particularly gifted at profiling individuals who are doing their part on behalf of the environment....Whether hes giving us the play-by-play of a local campaign to stop a casino development on long-neglected Point Molate in the San Francisco Bay or explaining how the unique bathymetry and ocean currents off our coast result in a rich marine environment that some call the Serengeti of the ocean, Helvarg just might make you feel optimistic about the future.

San Francisco Chronicle

Helvarg deftly evokes that spirit of exploration that drove the earliest inhabitants to populate California. In The Golden Shore, Mr. Helvarg shows how that adventuresome spirit is the perfect fuel to propel such an illuminating book about the world around us Californians, one golden mile at a time.

Santa Barbara News Press

An informative, beautifully written trip along Californias coastline from the Oregon border to Tijuana. Helvarg artfully combines history, travelogue and interviews with his experiences on the coast and in the ocean in an enthralling book.

The Oregonian

As geography, history, and myth, the power of California as place, society, and dream is best encountered on its shoreline. In Facing West from California Shores, Walt Whitman bore witness to this drama. In the decades that followed, writers such as Mary Austin, J. Smeaton Chase, Robinson Jeffers, and John Steinbeck each encountered the California shore as fact and symbol. And now David Helvarg embarks upon an odyssey up the coast of dreams, asking the question: what is contemporary California telling itself about itselfand what does this mean for the nation?

Kevin Starr, author of California: A History

Brilliant and engrossing...a comprehensive account of Californias coastal history. With a deft journalists touch, Helvarg weaves a tapestry of the Golden State both past and present, mixing history, biology, adventurism and activism. The tale is woven with interviews and the authors own unique personal experiences and relationships.

Ralph Nader, The Huffington Post

Weve gotten used to thinking of Californias jammed freeways, or its tech riches, or its Hollywood excess. But David Helvargs splendid account reminds us that those are transitoryin the beginning and the end, the Golden State is the place where North America meets the mighty Pacific, a coast of unvanquishable splendor and unforgettable history.

Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

The Golden Shore is about more than one mans love affair with Californias iconic coast. Its the history of an environmental consciousness that has been impressed upon people around the globe. This is a vital story that will help inform future generations of how and why we work so diligently to protect and preserve Californias majestic coast. I applaud David Helvarg for this great work.

John Laird, chair of the California Ocean Protection Council

For all its mountains and forests, farms and deserts, California would not be California without its iconic shores. But, turns out, theres much more to it than the Beach Boys surfin coast. This book dives deep, literally and figuratively, from deep history to deep waters to where its all headed. Find a comfortable chair, preferably with a view of the sea, because youve got your hands on a good read, told by one of our nations most passionate journalistswho, thankfully, happens to be a devoted coast-lover.

Carl Safina, author of Song for the Blue Ocean
and The View from Lazy Point

ALSO BY DAVID HELVARG

Saved by the Sea

Rescue Warriors

Blue Frontier

50 Ways to Save the Ocean

The War Against the Greens

Copyright 2013, 2016 by David Helvarg
Originally published by St. Martins Press in 2013.

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

All photos are courtesy of the author ().

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Helvarg, David, 1951 author.

Title: The golden shore : Californias love affair with the sea / David Helvarg.

Other titles: Californias love affair with the sea

Description: Novato, California : New World Library, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.