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Title: Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin (California Studies in Critical Human Geography) by Gray A. Brechin ISBN: 0-520-22902-9 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 05 March, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.55 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Thorough, tho shrill, expose of SF's development
Comment: There are books that change the way you think about things. "Imperial San Francisco" changed the way I look at the city I live in, revealing the machinations behind the development of the Bay Area and its environs.
Brechin's book is part academic treatise, part shrill denouncement, and part insightful tell-all about America's favorite sweet-hart city. Basically, according to Brechin, a moneyed oligarchy destroyed the regional environment, poisoned our streams and wetlands, steered us towards a consumerist society dependant on fossil fuels and highways, provoked war, dumped toxic waste in workers' neighborhoods, and bought and control all significant media, all in order to make a buck. All the problems plaguing our modern society-poverty, crime, pollution, materialism-stem directly from the path of our greedy, imperial, and disgusting past.
Well researched (with occasional holes better filled by other reviewers), with plenty of gruesome anecdote and illustration, the book made my skin crawl, turned my belly aflame, and made me grit my teeth each morning as I read it on the Muni. All the passing sight from the train was just evidence of Man's greed and selfishness. What's worse, it only reminded me that the pace of our development only increases here in California.
But while Brechin was quite skillful in revealing the underbelly of San Francisco's past, his tone is grating and incessant. The book is like that obnoxious friend we all have who's politically savvy and unduly righteous. Reading the book is like being backed into a corner by this friend at a party and having to listen to all the products you should be boycotting.
And what was the alternative, after all? Certainly not the agricultural-philosophical town Brechin rhapsodizes about in the introduction. Jefferson extolled the same type of society, but his model needed slavery to uphold it, as did the Greeks', who Brechin praises as the ideal. So, after putting the book down, we're left with acrid taste in our mouths, yet no refreshing alternative with which to cleanse our palate.
Rating: 5
Summary: More Than Just Good Local History
Comment: Brechin's acerbic and well-researched account of San Francisco's development and the attendant despoiliaton of its hinterlands will be amusing reading to anyone with a populist bent and an interest in San Francisco history.
But "Imperial San Francisco" is far more than good local history. It's a book that wrestles with big ideas -- the poisonous and secretive power of economic elites, the cost of technology, and the way fortunes are built not by creating wealth but by shifting costs to others (including future generations).
There are no easy answers here. This is not a book that inspires one with optimism about human nature or the human prospect. And by connecting San Francisco's rise to power with that of other imperial cities in the past (most notably Rome), Brechin makes a strong case that "t'was ever thus."
"Imperial San Francisco" is also well-written (although this isn't popular history, but the real deal). And I feel compelled to add that in this day of specialization, careerism, and caution in historical writing it's a real pleasure to read such a wide-ranging and daring book. Brechin also makes excellent use of both photos and illustrations and comes up with quotes so juicy they made me want to head for the archives and read the primary sources myself.
Rating: 3
Summary: Shrill and Often Obvious,,, But Interesting Anyways
Comment: OK, OK, I get the point: elites manipulate the physical world for their own enrichment and then disguise their machinations by comprimising the media. So what else is new?
One complaint that has already been voiced about this book is that it is not reall "about" San Francisco at all, but rather makes a point about all cities. That complaint is true in that author's theoretical underpinings for his argument extend to examples outside of San Francisco. Really though, what else would the author do?
Personally, I found authors attempt to relate San Francisco to Rome and other cities to be interesting and relevant.
Another complaint voiced in these reviews is authors tone. That tone has been described as "shrill". I would have to concur with that complaint. I found the tone of this book to be distracting. I would venture to guess that anyone, ANYONE who reads this book is likely amenable to his "Cities suck" thesis. To belabor the point in the manner that author does is just beating a dead horse.
In defense of author, he doesn't present himself as a true "academic" but as a sort of journalist/academic cross-trainer. I found that perspective refreshing. Author is impassioned about the subject of book in a way that makes you put up with the occasional hectoring and shrillness.
One fundamental problem I had with the substance, rather then the style of the book: Author repeatedly discusses various civic improvement schemes as plots to "increase real estate values". Query: Is that really such a nefarious scheme? If you look at California today, property ownership is hardly the exclusive province of the elite. In this way, I think the book unwittingly lends supports to an alternative, and contradictory hypotheses: That the actions that economic elites take in their own self interest ultimately benefit those outside their own social class.
So, that's something to think about.
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Title: Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture: A City Lights Anthology by James Brook, Chris Carlsson, Nancy J. Peters, City Lights Books ISBN: 0872863352 Publisher: City Lights Books Pub. Date: January, 1998 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Historic San Francisco: A Concise History and Guide by Rand Richards, Richards Rand ISBN: 1879367009 Publisher: Heritage House Pub Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld by Herbert Asbury ISBN: 1560254084 Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The History of Alta California: A Memoir of Mexican California by Antonio Maria Osio, Rose Marie Beebe, Robert M. Senkewicz ISBN: 0299149749 Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1996 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: National Trust Guide / San Francisco: America's Guide for Architecture and History Travelers by Peter Booth Wiley ISBN: 0471191205 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 08 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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