A finalist for the PEN Center USA Award for Nonfiction
Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell, is surfer and former war reporter Chas Smith’s wild and unflinching look at the high-stakes world of surfing on Oahu’s North Shore—a riveting, often humorous, account of beauty, greed, danger, and crime.
For two months every winter, when Pacific storms make landfall, swarms of mainlanders, Brazilians, Australians, and Europeans flock to Oahu’s paradisiacal North Shore in pursuit of some of the greatest waves on earth for surfing’s Triple Crown competition. Chas Smith reveals how this influx transforms a sleepy, laid-back strip of coast into a lawless, violent, drug-addled, and adrenaline-soaked mecca.
Smith captures this exciting and dangerous place where locals, outsiders, the surf industry, and criminal elements clash in a fascinating look at class, race, power, money, and crime, set within one of the most beautiful places on earth. The result is a breathtaking blend of crime and adventure that captures the allure and wickedness of this idyllic golden world.
About the Author
Chas Smith has spent his whole life surfing. He has written adventure/travel stories for Playboy, Esquire, Vice, GQ, BlackBook, and The New York Times Magazine. He has covered wars in Lebanon, conflicts in Yemen, dirty oil dealings in Azerbaijan, and fashion in Somalia. He is the former editor-at-living-large for Surfing magazine, and writes for Australia's Stab. He lives in Los Angeles and has spent five winters on the North Shore.
Praise For…
A mix of reportage and gonzo journalism…. [with] trenchant…astute observations…. If Hunter S. Thompson circa Hell’s Angels merged with a fashion critic to write about surfing for Maxim, the result might be similar. - Publishers Weekly Smith grabs us with his first sentence [with] this exciting and revelatory book . . . Smith explores not just the allure and popularity of surfing, but also the business side of the sport . . . and the drugs and violence that sweep into the North Shore when the surfing competitions come to Hawaii. Told in an energetic, first-person style that one of Smith’s magazine editors dubbed “trash prose,” the book is a sure-fire hit with fans of surfing literature. - Booklist Smith grabs us with his first sentence [with] this exciting and revelatory book - Booklist “Absolutely the most entertaining surf book in years, a breathless adrenalized romp. More importantly, it’s a jaw-dropping introduction to Smith’s greatest--and most promising--literary creation, himself. This man-and this book-are both going places.” - Daniel Duane, author of Caught Inside: A Surfer's Year on the California Coast [A] ripping profile of the surf culture on Oahu’s North Shore . . . Smith[’s] storytelling is taught, he leaps from person to person, from seaside mansion to inland shack, from history to history, sometimes all on the same page and in ways that slice deep . . . a crack reporter at his best when crouched in the curl of others’ stories. - Wall Street Journal [A] ripping profile of the surf culture on Oahu’s North Shore . . . Smith[’s] storytelling is taught . . . - Wall Street Journal A vivid and somewhat disconcerting depiction of the world of surfing and its attendant problems . . . An uncommon read for those interested in surfing or those seeking a look at Hawaii from a vantage point not normally found in history books. - Library Journal A hip exposé of Hawaii’s North Shore surfing culture . . . the droll personal narrative, evocative of Hunter S. Thompson at times, entertains, while superior reporting informs and illuminates much about the surf industry’s peculiar machinations, its cavalcade of sun-bleached heroes and the troubled history of Hawaii itself . . . effortlessly shifting from the profound to the profane. - Kirkus Reviews A hip exposé of Hawaii’s North Shore surfing culture . . . entertains, while superior reporting informs and illuminates much about the surf industry’s peculiar machinations, its cavalcade of sun-bleached heroes and the troubled history of Hawaii itself . . . effortlessly shifting from the profound to the profane. - Kirkus Reviews “Chas Smith is a stone-cold original-a globe-trotting, war-reporting, motorcycle-driving, cigarette-smoking, tube-riding, fashion-obsessed international dandy with a penchant for dangerous people, places, and, most of all, prose. Welcome To Paradise, Now Go To Hell is absolutely the most entertaining surf book in years, a breathless adrenalized romp.” - Daniel Duane, author of Caught Inside, A Surfer's Year on the California Coast A book of real literary style and grace . . . gleefully mischievous . . . handles like a ‘54 Porsche: smooth, glamorous, and totally out of control. - Flaunt Made me think hard about the North Shore . . . To the best of my knowledge, nothing like it exists.” - The Inertia Smith doesn’t simply stand in judgment. He loves the world of the North Shore, and he hates it. With gleeful defiance and feral wit, he harnesses his ambivalence to fuel this compulsive, wild ride of a book. - Sydney Morning Herald, Pick of the Week A wild and unflinching look at the adrenalin-soaked world of surfing. - Melbourne Herald Sun
