Description
Book SynopsisA history of San Francisco, this work 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.
Trade Review"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.
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Preface to the 2006 Edition Preface to the First Edition: The Urban Maelstrom Introduction: New Romes for a New World Part I: Foundations of Dominion 1. The Pyramid of Mining 2. Water Mains and Bloodlines Part II: The Thought Shapers 3. The Scott Brothers: Arms and the Overland Mutiny 4. The De Youngs: Society Invents Itself 5. The Hearsts: Racial Supremacy and the Digestion of "All Mexico" Part III: Remote Control 6. Toward Limitless Energy 7. The University, the Gate, and "the Gadget" Notes A Note on Sources Select Bibliography Index
