Urethane Revolution

The history behind the advent of urethane wheels and the birth of the modern movement of skateboarding, as told by a man who lived it.

One crazy year on the California coast—in 1975 a hippie skunkworks, bred in garages and shacks, launched the modern skater movement. Strap in for a wild ride replete with two car chases, two plane crashes, a massive truck bomb, Colombian narcos, the Mafia, senior White House staff, a gypsy fortuneteller, three straight-up miracles, Jacques Cousteau, big piles of cocaine and naked hippie chicks. Author John O'Malley was in the thick of it all, and he retraces the trip that starts with a bang and races to a melt-in-your-mouth ending.

“A truly mesmerizing account of the rebirth of skateboarding in the 1970s. Brash and wild with opinions…The Revolution was in fact televised, and O’Malley had a front row seat.” —Michael Brooke, publisher, Concrete Wave Magazine

“The always interesting, sometimes shocking, off-color page-turner dialogues the history of skateboarding from one of its founding fathers, John O’Malley.” —San Diego Uptown News