Description
Book SynopsisAn illuminating profile of the San Francisco Bay Area, and its regional and global influence, as seen from the focal point of San Francisco International Airport (SFO). A People's History of SFO uses the history of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to tell a multifaceted story of development, encounter, and power in the surrounding region from the eighteenth century to the present. In lively, engaging stories, Eric Porter reveals SFO's unique role in the San Francisco Bay Area's growth as a globally connected hub of commerce, technology innovation, and political, economic, and social influence. Starting with the very land SFO was built on, A People's History of SFO sees the airport as a microcosm of the forces at work in the Bay Areafrom its colonial history and early role in trade, mining, and agriculture to the economic growth, social sanctuary, and environmental transformations of the twentieth century. In ways both material and symbolic, small human acts have overlappe
Trade Review"Inside the airport, you can’t literally see the past. Still, you might be able to commune with it when you read Eric Porter’s new lively book." * San Francisco Examiner *
"Starting his history with the indigenous peoples and concluding with the airport’s impact on the environment in the twenty-first century Bay Area, Porter offers a history of the San Francisco airport deeply rooted in place and the iterative history of the Bay Area and its largest air transportation facility." * Pacific Historical Review *
"This innovative, engaging book illuminates the extent to which a major urban airport can inform a spectrum of topics, in this case business promotion, labor relations, race relations, and environmental challenges. . . . The text offers a wealth of material on how important a large airport can be beyond serving as just a transportation hub." * CHOICE *
Table of ContentsContents
Introduction: Three Views of SFO
1. Out of the Mud
2. Making San Francisco Airport
3. Of Fighting Planes and Flowers
4. A Black Future in the Air Industry?
5. The Politics of Jet Noise
6. Differing Degrees of Welcome
7. Sanctuary’s Gateway
8. Shoreline Futures
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
