Imperial San Francisco [[electronic resource] ] : urban power, earthly ruin : with a new preface / / Gray Brechin

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910827710903321
• Autore: Brechin Gray A
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Berkeley, : University of California Press, c2006
• ISBN: 1-283-29172-X; 9786613291721; 0-520-93348-6
• Edizione: [2nd ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (440 p.)
• Collana: California studies in critical human geography ; ; 3
• Disciplina: 979.4/6
• Soggetti: Elite (Social sciences) - California - San Francisco Bay Area - History; Nature - Effect of human beings on - California - San Francisco Bay Area - History; Nature - Effect of human beings on - Pacific Area - History; Human ecology - California - San Francisco Bay Area - History; Land use - California - San Francisco Bay Area - History; San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.) Biography; San Francisco (Calif.) Biography; San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.) Environmental conditions; Pacific Area Environmental conditions
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Preface To The 2007 Edition -- Preface To The First Edition: The Urban Maelstrom -- Introduction: New Romes For A New World -- 1. The Pyramid Of Mining -- 2. Water Mains And Bloodlines -- 3. The Scott Brothers: Arms And The Overland Monthly -- 4. The De Youngs: Society Invents Itself -- 5· The Hearsts: Racial Supremacy And The Digestion Of "All Mexico" -- 6. Toward Limitless Energy -- 7· The University, The Gate, And "The Gadget" -- Notes -- A Note On Sources -- Select Bibliography -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: 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.