Shore Leave - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0991619811 ISBN 13: 9780991619818

Publisher: Boyo Press, 2016

Synopsis

For the thousands of US sailors bound for the Pacific theatre of World War II, the Hawaiian Islands were the staging ground for an unknown fate. Their perception of Honolulu as a tropical paradise quickly deflated upon their arrival. The anticipation of a moonlit Diamond Head, available hula girls and free-flowing and affordable rum quickly materialized into crowded streets, beaches cordoned off with barbed wire and endless lines to nowhere. Still, as with many ports of call, diversions were plentiful, and set against the warm trade winds, sailors took advantage of them on their last stop to hell. Shore Leave is the first photobook to capture the Honolulu of this time and place. It is a one-of-a-kind visual document of a port that, for many sailors who passed through, was their initiation into manhood. Classic 1940s images of Hawaiian hula girls complement scrapbook photos of jaunty, uniformed sailors touring the island on a motorcycle or playing pool. Young women masquerading as bonafide hula girls pose with sailors in photobooth arcades, a ritual that for many would be the last human embrace before being deposited onto the battefield. Whether on the crowded streets of Waikiki or in line at the famed Black Cat Cafe, the young American men appear content for the moment with the liberties that their 48 hours away from the ship afforded. Meticulously culled from a 30-year collection of scrapbooks, photo albums and ephemera, Shore Leave―beautifully packaged with its clothbound, tipped-on cover―presents the dreams and realities of young men on their way to war in a Honolulu as exotic and forbidden as it was banal and lonely.

About this title

Review

It often pays to read your snail mail. When I opened an envelope that had been sitting on my desk for over a month, my jaw dropped at the sight of this new book: Shore Leave by Ryan Mungia of Boyo Press in Los Angeles. My interest was not high beacuse the typography and graphic design signals a shift in style or fashion, but because this modest volume is a slice of history that is nuanced and iconic at the same time.--Steven Heller "Print Magazine "

It provides a visual document of the city that served as the threshold between childhood and adulthood, peace and war, life and death.--Edward Moore "Jocks and Nerds "

Binding all these insightful photographs together in the book creates a truly unique insight, elegantly designed moreover, Shore Leave is one of the most captivating books we have discovered this year.--Another Something

About the Author

Cultural anthropologist and graphic design historian Jim Heimann is Executive Editor for TASCHEN America, and author of numerous books on architecture, pop culture, and the history of the West Coast, Los Angeles, and Hollywood. His unrivaled private collection of ephemera has been featured in museum exhibitions around the world and in dozens of books.

Edition details

• Publisher: Boyo Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0991619811
• ISBN 13: 9780991619818
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 88
• Editor: Mungia Ryan