This is part of the history of a city, grown from 16 houses on sand dunes in 1850 to the largest city on the Pacific in only 30 years. The book, Imperial San Francisco by Dr. Gray Brechin, is one of the few examples of a scholarly dissertation that describes history in a new way and becomes a very popular book. Imperial San Francisco brings to light the huge sacrifices extracted by the surrounding land by any city from Babylon to the Italian city states to the instant cities of North America. Brechin says that he tried to answer the question he posed himself: was it worth it – and what was it worth for whom.
This program focuses on the Gold Rush and the early conflicts between mining and farming. This interview was recorded in 2000 and is being re-broadcast here for the first time.
Gray Brechin received a B.A. in history and geography, a M.A. in art history, and a Ph.D. in geography from the University of California at Berkeley. He worked during the 1980s as journalist and TV producer in San Francisco. Brechin is currently visiting scholar at the UC Berkeley Department of Geography and works on the Living New Deal Project and the history of the Great Depression.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:02 — 19.9MB)
