Review
"Imperial San Francisco nearly splits its seams with interesting nuggets of history discovered by Brechin inside musty archives at the University of California. His lucid style and sense of rhythm make the book read like a novel." - Peter Byrne, SF Weekly "A refreshing surprise. Here is a book that fairly sizzles with outrage over water-grabs and land-grabs, 'environmental blunders' and 'the dynastic, corporate and political alliances that enable some cities to claim and acquire empires as their rightful due' - and yet the target is quaint and charming San Francisco rather than the customary urban whipping boy, Los Angeles....No one who reads [Brechin's] book will ever look at quaint old San Francisco in quite the same way again." - Jonathan Kirsch, Los Angeles Times "Imperial San Francisco provides a myth-shattering interpretation of the hidden costs that the growth of San Francisco has exacted on its surrounding regions, presenting along the way a revolutionary new theory of urban development. Written in a lively, accessible style, the narrative is filled with vivid characters, engrossing stories and a rich variety of illustrations. Brechin advances a new way of understanding urban history as he traces the links among environment, economy, and technology that led ultimately to the atom bomb and the nuclear arms race." - Don Denevi, Palo Alto Daily News "A classic of urban history, environmental history, California history, and socially oriented architectural criticism, this work contains scholarship that is thrilling in its comprehensiveness. Never before have the inner dynamics of the regional civilization centered in San Francisco been so comprehensively integrated." - Dr. Kevin Starr, State Librarian of California, author of Americans and the California Dream "Mixing the easygoing authority of the great urban historian Spiro Kostof with the penetrating investigative journalism of Mike Davis, Brechin offers a sweeping urban history of San Francisco. Part theory, part history, but with a whole lot of graft, sex, and murder thrown in, [his book] has pioneered a genre: potboiler urban history." - Randy Gragg, The Oregonian "Imperial San Francisco is a great gift of a book, the product of extraordinary research, insight, and hard work that connects a lot of dots and gives me a reinvigorated focus and curiosity [about] what California culture was and what might become of it all." - Gary Snyder"
Product Description
San Francisco is a city clouded in myth. This urban biography provides an entirely new vision of the city's history, laying bare the inner dynamics of the regional civilization centered in San Francisco. "Imperial San Francisco" examines the far-reaching environmental impact that one city and the elite families that hold power in it have had on the Pacific Basin for over a century and a half. The book provides a literate, myth-shattering interpretation of the hidden costs that the growth of San Francisco has exacted on its surrounding regions, presenting along the way a revolutionary new theory of urban development. Written in a lively, accessible style, the narrative is filled with vivid characters, engrossing stories, and a rich variety of illustrations.
As he uncovers the true costs of building an imperial city, Gray Brechin addresses the dynastic ambitions of frontier oligarchies, the environmental and social effects of the mining industry, the creation of two universities, the choice of imperial architecture to symbolize the aspirations of San Franciscans in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, manipulation of public thought by the city's media, and more. He traces the exploitation of both local and distant regions by prominent families--the Hearsts, de Youngs, Spreckelses, and others--who gained wealth and power through mining, control of ranching, water and energy, transportation, real estate, and weapons.
This broad history of San Francisco is a story of greed and ambition on an epic scale. "Imperial San Francisco" incorporates rare period illustrations, personal correspondence, and public statements to show how a little-known power elite has used the city as a tool to increase its own wealth and power. Brechin's story advances a new way of understanding urban history as he traces the links among environment, economy, and technology that led, ultimately, to the creation of the atomic bomb and the nuclear arms race.
"Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of 2000"
As he uncovers the true costs of building an imperial city, Gray Brechin addresses the dynastic ambitions of frontier oligarchies, the environmental and social effects of the mining industry, the creation of two universities, the choice of imperial architecture to symbolize the aspirations of San Franciscans in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, manipulation of public thought by the city's media, and more. He traces the exploitation of both local and distant regions by prominent families--the Hearsts, de Youngs, Spreckelses, and others--who gained wealth and power through mining, control of ranching, water and energy, transportation, real estate, and weapons.
This broad history of San Francisco is a story of greed and ambition on an epic scale. "Imperial San Francisco" incorporates rare period illustrations, personal correspondence, and public statements to show how a little-known power elite has used the city as a tool to increase its own wealth and power. Brechin's story advances a new way of understanding urban history as he traces the links among environment, economy, and technology that led, ultimately, to the creation of the atomic bomb and the nuclear arms race.
"Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of 2000"
About the Author
Gray Brechin is a historical geographer who received his Ph.D. in geography from the University of California, Berkeley. He has worked as a journalist and television producer, and is coauthor of Farewell, Promised Land:Waking from the California Dream (California, 1999).
