San Francisco Stories: Great Writers on the City

Book Overview

It falls down. It burns up. It goes Beatnik in the fifties and crazy in the sixties. It stays elegant throughout. Every city has its stories, but San Francisco seems to have more than most. From Jack Kerouac on working on the railroad to Anne Lamott on getting kicked out of the cafe scene, and from Jack London on the 1906 earthquake to Tom Wolfe on the acid tests of the 1960s, San Francisco Stories collects the most outstanding writings about the city from some of the most distinguished authors of the last 150 years.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0877016690
• ISBN13: 9780877016694
• Release Date: May 1990
• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 1.0" x 1.0"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Terrific Anthology

Anyone not already familiar with San Francisco will probably not increase his or her awareness with this book. This is an anthology that includes excerpts, essays, and poems set in, about, around, or otherwise touching on San Francisco. As such, the reader may be thrust into settings with no background, and the reader's own knowledge of and experience with The City (capital "t" capital "c", as the locals know it)will have to fill in the blanks. In some cases the writing is about SF, but in many case the writing is about a subject with SF as the backdrop. In any case, it works. As an anthology this provides a great and varied selection, and if you see any of your favorite writers in the table of contents, you may encounter a rare piece of writing that you otherwise might not (like an enjoyable Kerouac piece on a job he held for a while; something from him other than an excerpt of On The Road). Or, you may learn about an event that you otherwise know little of (the assasinations of Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk). If you love The City and/or any of the selected writers, try this book. There are other books about other cities in this series (at least New Orleans and Los Angeles, I believe).

Good book to clutch when you visit San Francisco

It's a very good collection of writings about San Francisco - not necessarily always great literature - though there is some very good writing indeed. Some of the pieces are "just" very good journalism - topical, inciteful, well-written. So if you want to learn more about the atmosphere and the arguments in the Castro when AIDS emerged or discover more about San Francisco's very own brand of narcissism, this is the book. It's a very good read.

A collection that hits more often than it misses.

This collection contains around twenty-five stories, a few poems, and numerous photos dealing with San Francisco from around 1860 to 1990. The authors include Tom Wolf, Amy Tan, Jack Kerouac, Randy Shilts, Jack London, and Mark Twain. Some of the stories are travel narratives, but most are in the form of personal essay. None of the stories are obviously fiction, although I suspect that literary license was freely taken by some. No single topic or time period is given inordinate attention, and the stories provide vivid accounts of life in Chinatown, hippies, fortune seekers in the 1870s, and modern politics. The longest entry is Frances Fitzgerald's recounting of the outbreak of the AIDS virus, and the medical and political reactions in the Castro. The story is captivating. As with any collection, there are entries that did not impress me, but might be enjoyed by someone else.I bought this book on a short vacation to San Francisco. I knew little about the city, and my reason for going was a low air fare. After reading these diverse stories (not all of which are flattering to the city), I feel like I know much more about the city and people than if I had read a travel guide, a straight history, or a fictional acount. Editor John Miller has done a great job picking and arranging the stories. I am so impressed with this collection that I am getting other books in this series (New Orleans, Alaska, Chicago), even though I have no special interest in any of the places.