When local skateboarding idol Scottie Devine announces a kind of treasure hunt in his hometown in California, skating friends Griff and Annika are thrilled to participate--but soon the competition threatens to destroy their friendship.

He was a hardworking child actor in the early 1970s, appearing on dozens of popular films and TV programs. Then he was offered a chance to make a record and “Leif Garrett, teen idol” was born. Millions of teenage girls all over the world covered their walls with his picture. His face adorned hundreds of international magazine covers as he became one of the biggest and most desired heartthrobs in history. There were jet-setting tours, TV specials, and hit records, along with an endless supply of beautiful women, alcohol, and ultimately, the drugs that sent this shooting star into the darkest depths of addiction. Idol Truth is a harrowing survivor’s story as well as a charmed tale filled with compelling pop culture characters—from Michael Jackson and Brooke Shields to John Belushi, Freddie Mercury, and many more. It’s the first time ever that Leif Garrett has come clean about his life, revealing all the details of his spectacular journey

This book explores the ways in which religion is observed, performed, and organised in skateboard culture. Drawing on scholarship from the sociology of religion and the cultural politics of lifestyle sports, this work combines ethnographic research with media analysis to argue that the rituals of skateboarding provide participants with a rich cultural canvas for emotional and spiritual engagement. Paul O’Connor contends that religious identification in skateboarding is set to increase as participants pursue ways to both control and engage meaningfully with an activity that has become an increasingly mainstream and institutionalised sport. Religion is explored through the themes of myth, celebrity, iconography, pilgrimage, evangelism, cults, and self-help.

Ako's get-together with friends from high school comes to an uncomfortable end when Asuka, a former member of their group, announces on television that she was bullied in school. Looking back on one of her last conversations with Asuka, Ako wonders if her life truly means anything…

Ako's love of skateboarding continues to grow as she goes to another lesson with her coworker, Shiho. The two of them buy their own boards and officially become skater girls! But as Ako struggles to learn her second trick, she begins to wonder if she'll ever truly be able to skateboard…

From its origins as a land-based alternative to surfing, one that incorporated the wheels and trucks used by skateboarders, longboarding, developed in Hawaii during the 1950s, has come a long way. In the 1970s, when the sport was seen as a form of self-expression, it was more of a do-it-yourself hobby. Today, longboarding is bigger than ever. This book describes the sport’s history, gives riders an idea of how to choose their equipment and begin practicing this unique sport. From mere transportation, to obstacle slaloming, freeriding, dancing, and freestyling, readers will be impressed with the many styles of this ever-changing pastime.

Ako finds herself coasting along, watching her twenties pass her by. Work at the video rental store, see her boyfriend, repeat… Her days are becoming an indistinguishable, listless blur. Until she encounters a skateboarder practicing a trick-and she's a girl! For some reason, Ako feels a pull toward the sport. Slowly, all the dreams and ambitions she gave up on and the futures she imagined for herself come flooding back, and Ako resolves to change herself now, before it's too late. But is it ever really too late to discover something new?

For many Americans who grew up in a small town, childhood and adolescence revolved around the skatepark. As time passes, however, these people drift away from skateboarding and the spaces where they learned to do it. Part memoir, part travelogue, part essay, Small Town Skateparks is the story of an adventure to discover the role skateparks play in such lives and the role they played in the author’s own. Clint Carrick grew up at the skatepark. Every day of the summer, he and his friends would loaf at the dilapidated park with warped plywood ramps strewn with rusty nails. They were the outsiders of the town, or at least thought of themselves that way. They wore jeans and ripped skate shoes and felt free in their special hang out, the skatepark, where they had their own language, their own heroes, and their own views of the world. In this setting they matured from children awestruck of high school kids to bored young men desperate to get out. Clint, now an adult, rekindles these forgotten memories as he drives across the country visiting unremarkable skateparks in America’s small towns. Why is he drawn to these skateparks? What is their charm? How does the skatepark function as an institution, and what is the indelible mark it leaves on those who grow in its womb? As he makes his way further west, Clint relearns how to skate. He chats with locals, crashes, bleeds, and hears a lot of stories that sound like his own. The rust begins to wear off, but questions remain. Can someone who left skating behind rediscover the activity that defined his youth? Can someone who abandoned skateboarding make the skatepark once again his home?

As Ako and Shiho learn more about the world of skateboarding, they also get to know Momo, a talented skater who has the potential to be a world champion. But Momo's path to success is blocked by the lack of a skatepark in her area: she can only practice on her neighborhood streets-as long as her parents don't find out about it…

From skateboarding's distant origins in the 1940s to the heyday of the Z-Boys to Tony Hawk's lifelong and lucrative career as a professional skateboarding icon, this book showcases what skateboarding was in the past and what it's now evolved into. In the last half century, skateboarding has evolved from a simple, idyllic child's pastime that originated in southern California to becoming a worldwide youth culture phenomenon. This now-mainstream action sport has spawned a multi-billion-dollar commercial market for skateboarding equipment, skateboard-related media and entertainment, as well as skate-inspired softgoods like clothing, shoes, and accessories; and it is likely to soon become an Olympic sport. Skateboarding: The Ultimate Guide is brimming with fascinating history and engaging stories from skateboarding's 60-odd year existence and evolution. Covering the action sport's origins, myriad breakthrough developments, pioneering heroes, both "street style" and "vert" or ramp skating, unique popular culture, and likely future, this book will delight anyone with an interest in this individualistic and compelling athletic pursuit.