Peter Doggett delivers a sweeping, deeply researched portrait of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys in ‘Surf’s Up’, out now in hardcover. Framed as a family saga as much as a musical history, the book traces Wilson’s extraordinary melodic and arranging gifts alongside the pressures that shaped the band’s internal dynamics. Doggett captures the creative peak that produced era-defining music while situating it within the complicated personal world that surrounded it.
Written from the perspective of a lifelong fan, ‘Surf’s Up’ balances admiration with clarity, charting decades of evolution, conflict, and resilience within the band. Doggett explores not only the music itself but the passions and fixations that fueled it, from surf culture and cars to politics and food, while giving space to the wider creative roles of band members including Dennis Wilson. The result is a vivid, human account that honors the brilliance, contradictions, and enduring impact of one of pop music’s most influential groups.