First published in 1999, this celebrated history of San Francisco traces the exploitation of both local and distant regions by prominent families - the Hearsts, de Youngs, Spreckelses, and others - who gained power through mining, ranching, water and energy, transportation, real estate, weapons, and the mass media. The story uncovered by Gray Brechin is one of greed and ambition on an epic scale. Brechin arrives at a new way of understanding urban history as he traces the connections between environment, economy, and technology and discovers links that led, ultimately, to the creation of the atomic bomb and the nuclear arms race. In a new preface, Brechin considers the vulnerability of cities in the post-9/11 twenty-first century.

About the Author
Gray Brechin has worked as a journalist and television producer and is coauthor of Farewell, Promised Land: Waking from the California Dream (UC Press).

Reviews
"One of the very best books I have ever read about a place is Imperial San Francisco, by Gray Brechin.... With its tales of skullduggery, brilliant enterprise, racist arrogance, environmental ruin, and ruthless competition, it will be an astonishment to anyone who knows modern San Francisco only as the gentlest of American cities." - Jan Morris, Independent (UK) "Books of the Year," November 2000" Included in the Los Angeles Times Book Review's "Best Nonfiction of 2000", Named a "Book of the Year" in the Independent (UK) San Francisco Chronicle Best-Seller List, December 1999, Honorable Mention for the Pacific Coast Branch Award, American Historical Association.



Book Information
ISBN 9780520250086
Author Gray Brechin
Format Paperback
Page Count 437
Imprint University of California Press
Publisher University of California Press
Weight(grams) 680g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 36mm